Sports

Players revolt on captaincy issue

 Rugby tour of Dubai in doubt

By Lal Gunesekera

The tour of Dubai by the Sri Lanka rugby side for the Five Nations Asian Division I Qualifying Championship to be held from April8 to 11 is in doubt.

The four players from CH & FC are refusing to play under new captain Pavithra Fernando, while the 14 players from Kandy Sports Club say that they want to play together under the original captain Dilanka Wijesekera as they have been practicing together.

This is subsequent to the original appointment of Dilanka Wijesekera as captain by the rugby selectors headed by Rohan Abeykoon and the appointment

Of Pavithra Fernando, to powerful Chairman of the National Olympic Committee. (NOC)

Pavither Fernando was picked as captain by the national selectors of the National Sports Council (NSC) headed by former 1GP Indra de Silva.

Rohan Abeykoon too has tendered his resignation with immediate effect, together with Nazim Mohamed.

Last October too, there was a controversy regarding the captain for the tour of Chinese Taipei in November with Minister Gamini Lokuge intervening and appointing two captains(Dilanka Wijesekera and Dushan Lewke) for two matchs.Then too Abeykoon, Resigned as chief selectors, but was persuaded by Minister Lokuge to continue in office 

Back foot play is also important 

On the last ocassion we discussed the advantages of front foot play in the batting department.Today we will discuss the wonderful and immensely important mode of back foot play. Let me digress a little before we get into that. Week before last I was in Jaffna to conduct a programme to train young cricketers and also to spot talent and select boys to go into the super camp for training.This was a programme conducted through the Aravinda de Silva Foundation and sponsored by the international division of Coca Cola.Since most of cricket in jaffna is played on matting wickets the importance of back foot play was amply visible.

Playing off the back foot gives the batsman several advantages. Primarily the batsman has a longer look at the ball.When a bowler pitches the ball short its an instintive reaction to push the right foot (in the case of right handed batsmen) back. This is because itscomfortable to play/defend/control, a short ball by going back. It is not possible to play a ball pitched short and rising at the batsman around waist or above off the front foot.

Now lets look at the exciting prospects and possibilities of playing off the back foot. Young players must first learn to take the back foot back and across towards the off stump as the initial move.Remember never lead with the head first approach, to the back foot. The head must be steady vertically in linewith the body and most importantly keep watching the ball.Now you have a fraction more time to select a shot.Why? The ball has to travel another yard or two towards you than when playing off the front foot.

Ok, now comes the juice.You havea little more time and you are sideways on, and eyes on the ball.You can offer a straight bat and defend if there is no chance of making a scoring shot. You can push on the off or leg side for a single if a more fuller flow of the bat is not possible.You could play a cut shot, a back foot drive on the off or a glide with an angled bat past gully region. These are possibilities on the off side and are generally safe shots to make. Watch out for a sharp turning leg spinner when you try to push on the off.Make sure you are perfectly balanced and the need to play the ball if it is too much away from the body is not there.

The back foot shot making on the leg side makes my mouth water. As soon as I get on the back foot and see the possibility of making a full flowing stroke on the leg side I see the score board ringing. Remember there's always more open spaces on the leg side. Only two fielders are allowed behind the batting crease on the leg. That leaves only three more as not more than five can be placed on the leg side according to the rules of cricket.

A back foot drive to leg, a pull, a sweep, a leg glide, lofted but placed shots to vacant areas, pushes to square of the wicket and of course the hook off fast bowlers,aresome possibilities. Make sure that you roll over your wrists when playing the hook off fast bowlers in order to keep the ball down soon to eliminate a catch in the deep. Enjoy this at the nets by asking your practice bowler to pitch short alternatively on the off,then around middle and finally at leg stump.There is no short cut to perfection than, practice,practice and more practice.

Playing the short ball on the legside is like mothers milk to me. My average shows this. More next week.

Three winless years; has hk 7's got beyond us?

DESPITE all the chirpy promise of an improved performance, the returns from last week's 24-nation Hong Kong International Rugby Sevens in the end proved no better than that of last year and the year before - which is to say, we lost all of our matches.

Over the three years, Sri Lanka had figured in a sum total of a dozen matches in the HK tournament- without a cheery moment to cherish. By any yardstick, the record represents an uncomplimentary commentary on the game here.

The last Sri Lanka won a Hong Kong Sevens match was in 2006 when it overcame the mighty USA. That win was remarkable, and made possible an appearance in the Bowl semifinal, our first since 1987. But unlike Hisham Abdeen's '87 outfit which went on to play in a losing final, in 2006 we conceded the semifinal place to Chinese-Taipei, after leading for all but the final minute of the game.

Credible evidence

A place in Bowl final may have been lost by a whisker, but the 2006 achievement provided credible evidence that our rugby was moving on an upward trajectory. Sri Lanka rugby breathed the air of optimism then.  Three years later, however, a fruition of that optimism is yet awaited.  The logical question, thus, to ask is: what is it that has retarded our rugby since 2006?

The short answer would be two years of controversial management by the DIG Nimal Lewke administration. The 2007/08 regime, to be sure, was some distance adrift of excellence, but there are other reasons for the failure to win a single Hong Kong Sevens match for three years. Before we examine the other reasons that got us into this hole, let's revisit those chirpy forecasts and see, with the benefit of hindsight, how near or far they were from actuality.

It shouldn't be forgotten that two of Sri Lanka's three Group opponents were potential champion sides: New Zealand All Blacks and Australia, both one-time Cup winners in Hong Kong. The forecast against this pair of giants was, of course, not of emerging giant slayers, but of limiting the margin of defeat. By how much, however, wasn't predicted.

In the event, we conceded wins to the All Blacks, 0/59, and Australia, 12/56. Margins of 40s and 50s represent huge defeats, but such deficits against powerhouse opponents beg a different perspective. It has to be said, we've previously lost by margins of seventies-eighties to powerhouse teams in Hong Kong, but then the event was nothing like what it is today, singly the most crucial IRB world-ranking tournament - as opposed to the merry, beer festival of old. The event took leave of that lovable past in 1997, with the IRB acquiring proprietorship from the HKRFU, linking it to a network of less popular sevens events and making-up the annual World Series sevens.

World competition

And from then on the spirit of win-or-lose-we-booze went out of the tournament, transformed as it was to a world competition- and so, not the sort of place any country would want to disgrace itself. Because of its new-found prestige and importance, the IRB and organizers, justifiably, didn't want participants that apparently only go to make up the numbers. So, although margins of 40-50 conceded to the All Blacks and Australia by any minion team doesn't quite deserve to be termed disgraceful, the truth is that huge defeats don't do any good to the minions' prospects of being re-invited to the tournament.

Sri Lanka, in any case, wasn't expected to make a case for their inclusion next year through their games against rugby's two world powers. Zimbabwe, our third Group opponent, was altogether a lesser proposition. The African nation is 56th in the IRB world rankings, as against our 51st.  That superiority apart, Zimbabwe's sport, as the world knows, has long been in dislocation thanks to its political turbulence and the resultant stricken economy. It wasn't a candidate for the best prepared team of the competition. Not that we didn't have problems of the kind Zimbabwe endures, but any hopes that we might pull this one off wasn't overly optimistic. Statistics, however, say we weren't half as good as the Zimbabweans, losing 14/33.

The Bowl, meant for the poorest finishers in the Group competition, might once have provided our best chance to squeeze out a win in Hong Kong. No longer, though. We ran into Asian champions, Japan, in the Bowl quarterfinals and was eliminated, 10/26. Our tournament record: Played: 4. Lost: 4. Points Scored: 36 points (3goals, 3tries) Conceded: 174 (22goals, 4 tries).

From a parochial standpoint, we might've performed better against Zimbabwe, but otherwise, the campaign hasn't been all downhill. There are some positives to take - none more pleasing than the tally of six tries, including a pair against the powerful Australians. It says we've adopted a far more sensible approach, meaning that we have better used our share of possession, never in abundance against opponents with superior weight and height. Obviously, we've chosen to run the ball at every opportunity. That hadn't been the case previously, when, with the lion's share of possession conceded to the opposition, our own hard-earned ball was kicked away to get out of desperate defensive situations. So, it's fair to say that the campaign hasn't been as bad as the results might suggest.

The IRB and the organizers, however, aren't likely to look at our performances with the sympathy we hope they would- more so after the recent appointment of an interim committee by government, an appointment that violates the IRB law specifying that it recognizes only elected national unions as its member-countries. That is another story.

We were talking about next year's invitation: In deciding the 2010 list of participants, the world body and host country are not likely to look no further than the Win/Loss record 2009. A catalogue of no-wins for three years hardly inspires confidence. The question then to ask is: if the record of one year determines the participants for the next year, how was Sri Lanka on the list for three successive years, despite its all-lost record.

Let me explain: We earned our 2007 invitation on the strength of our Bowl-win over the USA in 2006. But in 2007, Sri Lanka lost all its matches.

So, the 2008 invitation to HK didn't come automatically. The organizers had, in fact, intended to invite Thailand, but the SLRFU successfully argued SL's inclusion, citing our superior performance to the Thais in the Singer/Sri lankan Airlines IRB Satellite tournament of September 2007.

The Kandy event ceased to be an IRB-sanctioned event in 2008 and so the performances here were to have little or no bearing on the selection of participants for the 2009 IRB World Series Hong Kong Sevens.

That we eventually made it to the 2009 list, truth be told, was due as much to the persuasive powers of then CEO Dilroy Fernando as the assistance rendered by the SLRFU to the IRB's Asian development programs. The hosting of the Singer/Srilankan Airlines International Sevens for ten years is a significant contribution to IRB's Asian cause, while the two-match hosting of a rag-tag collection of players from the continent's minnow countries last year was, probably, what clinched us the invitation for last week's Hong Kong event.

In some ways the 2009 invitation was fortuitous, for, it gave us a chance to bid for a 2010 invitation - a chance which, frankly, we didn't quite earn on merit. So, if anything, the preparations ought to have been thorough - like a national pool in training for no less than three months; domestic tournaments for around the same duration interspersed with three-four international tournaments. An extravagant schedule you might well exclaim, but this is standard preparation for most teams competing in the Hong Kong World Series tournament.

Lambs to slaughter

The SLRFU, admittedly, don't have the cash for such expensive preparations. But the cobbling together of a squad after just two sub-standard inter-club competitions, four-six weeks of training and then packing them off to Hong Kong is, well, pretty much leading lambs to slaughter. This year's preparations (thanks to the convulsions within the administration following the resignations of the SLRFU President and Secretary weeks before the AGM) were woeful, but then previous preparations haven't been anywhere near what's required for a World Series.

Clearly, the thinking of the SLRFU has gotten wooly, which is stating the obvious, if you're aware of the turmoil SLRFU has been in over the past year or so. When the administration gets into bouts of nasty infighting over issues such as the suitability of the SLRFU president's son to lead the national captain (an issue that ethics would never have permitted to be placed on the table) or disagreement between the president and his deputy over foreign tours to be undertaken (one would call it "an investment in development''; the other, "manufactured joy rides for avaricious officials'') then Union time, money and energies have been misspent. In other words, enough hasn't been given to the real issues, like say, preparations for the Hong Kong Sevens.

So, it is not exaggeration to say that more than the All Blacks and Australia, the biggest opponent our team had to contend with was our own administration. With the benefit of hindsight, there's now preaching by the "know-alls'' about the lessons learnt this year being applied to the next preparations - if there's going to be a next time, that is.

The question whether we'll be invited at all to Hong Kong next year apart, it shouldn't be forgotten that our international rugby future is in serious doubt, given that the IRB has said that it does not recognize the government-appointed interim committee. Shall we dispose of that issue first, before we give thought to the next HK Sevens? Sport Minister, Lokuge, it's your call.

Four women as Boxing Judges 

By Lal Gunesekera

Four women are among 17 persons who have qualified as boxing judges from 24 who sat for an examination by the Boxing Referees and Judges Association of Sri Lanka (BRJASL).The 17 new judges are presently undergoing practical training.

The course and examination was conducted by Donald Munasinghe (formar President of the BRJASL) with the assistance of K.V.Dharmadasa, Udeni Kiridena and Thilak Perera.

The four women who qualified as Boxing judges were L.C.Sumanadasa,K.A.V. Rohini, A.A.C.P.Weerasinghe and Nelka Shiromala.

The men who qualified were W.G.L.Tilleraratne, W.P.Mendis, J.T.B.W.Pallekumbura, W.Wasantha Kumara, H.K.M.Sugathadasa, W.A.P.Asiri Wijesinghe, T.M.A.B.Tennakoon, Flt.Lt.M.T.M.Safrask, Sqt.S.P.C.S.Jayatilleke, K.A.A.K.Katugampola, T.B.Harshakumara, Mahesh Ssumanaweera and WO/H.A.V.Rupasena.

Five shuttlers leave for Asian Championship

 By LalGunesekara

Five shuttlers (three women and two men) left for South Korea last morning (Saturday) to compete at the Asian Badminton Championship to be held from April 7 to 12.

The three women players are Chandrika de Silva, Thilini Jayasinghe and 14 year old Achni Ratnasiri from Lindsay BMV, while the two men's players are the Karunaratne brothers - Nilika and Dinuka.

Kamal Gamlath is the manager cum coach, while Mrs. Jayani Shamala Abeydeera accompanied the players as lady chaperone.

"Accommodation and food for the seven-member Sri Lanka Contingent has been provided, while US $ 2000 was obtained from overseas sources. The Minister of Sports and Public Recreation provided Rs. 350,000/= to wards the tour" said the Chairman of the Interim Committee of the Sri Lanka Badminton Association (SLBA), Professor Ranjith de Silva. 

Lorenz's re-found love: Tennis 

IF many of Lorenz Pereira's old friends from Royal, the CR and the CH didn't get to meet him last month, it was not because he didn't make the pilgrimage to this year's Battle of the Blues.

As he often does, the 1958 Royal captain sure flew in from Melbourne to be a spectator at the 130th big match, but unfortunately for his many old pals, this time round he had to give more time to his old love: tennis.

Tennis had been a passion of Pereira during his school days, captaining the Royal team in 1958. After his days at Royal, however, his interest shifted to cricket and rugby, in both of which he achieved prominence.

Tennis, so, remained very much a neglected love - a neglect which he determinedly is making up for in later life.

At 70 - you wouldn't think he's that looking at his firm and upright figure - tennis remains his only love. So, not surprisingly, much of his ten days in Colombo was spent on the courts of the SLTA, trading shots with his brother, Brian, and his niece, Shalini de Silva and anyone looking for a knock about. "The cricket match is the reason why I am here, so, obviously I had to watch it on all three days. But that didn't mean I missed my tennis - I played it both before and after each day's play,'' says Pereira, "and almost all of the other seven-odd days in Colombo. You could say tennis is my fix - I need it to keep me fit.''

A Cambridge graduate, Pereira was in the British university cricket teams captained by Tony Lewis and Mike Brearley, both of whom went on to lead England in the 70s and 80s respectively.

In rugby, he provided the memory of the 1958 Bradby by scoring the decisive try in the final minute to bring the shield to Reid Avenue after seven long years.

He played for the CR before leaving for Cambridge and on his return, for the CH, whose first Sri Lankan captain he was; before him, it was led only by Europeans. He also played for the CCC, the CH's cricket wing, and here too was its first local captain. 

All of which meant tennis was a forgotten love in his younger days. Now that he has re-found it, his old friends won't get much time. To a court(ing), he will go.

- T. M. K. S 

Basnahira South in today's final

Basnahira South produced a tremendous performance on the field to pull off a thrilling 14 run victory over Kandurata Province from the jaws of defeat in their SLT Inter Provincial Twenty 20 tournament first semifinal match worked off at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

Basnahira South were defending a modest total of 137 runs but performed extremely well to restrict their opponents to 123 for 8 from their 20 overs. Medium paceman Chinthaka Perera was the chief wrecker as he returned outstanding figures of four wickets for 19 runs while Suranga Lakmal provided the back up support with an excellent last over.

 Basnahira South: 137 for 9 in 20 overs (T. M. Dilshan 19, M. Siriwardena 13, C. Silva 43, M. Bandara 31 n.o, C. Jayasinghe 2 for 26, T. Thushara 2 for 33)

Kandurata: 123 for 8 in 20 overs (K. Gunawardena 17, T. Paranavithana 27, K. Sangakkara 24, C. Kapugedera 27, C. Perera 4 for 19).

Wayamba through

Wayamba Province set up a final showdown with Basnahira South as they edged out Ruhuna Province 3-2 in the Bowl out system after their second semifinal match of the SLT Inter Provincial Twenty20 tournament was halted due to bad weather at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

The final will be worked off at the same venue today.

Ruhuna: 88 for 7 in 15 overs (S. Jayasuriya 26, I. de Saram 22, I. Udana 2 for 17, K. Lokuarachchi 2 for 16) v Wayamba.

Sevens. or Sixes and Sevens?

By Richard McCarter

It is with trepidation that I venture on to the columns of this broadsheet. However, faint heart never won fair lady - the analogous fair lady in this sense being the betterment of rugby in particular and Sri Lankan sports in general.

The HK Sevens

The Sri Lankan team arrived back midweek after a typical showing in Hong Kong. I use the word 'typical' in the same way a friend recently described snake gourd (pathola) to me. 'Gunath naha, agunath naha', she said, meaning that it's 'neither good for you nor bad for you'. And that is the general feeling I get at the showing of our sevens team in Hong Kong this year.

While the HK Sevens is a prestigious event, it is hardly the pinnacle of sevens rugby fame. The Dubai World Cup Sevens was. And we saw Wales win that one, with many of the other teams making sure they sent their best sides to the tournament as well. Hong Kong is rarely taken as seriously except by Fiji and New Zealand who for geographic reasons would like to claim superiority. Sri Lanka's attachment is also largely sentimental and due to HK's accessibility as a touring destination.

The players are also enthusiastic because it's a glamour event and Hong Kong is a wholly more entertaining place to spend your weekend in, whether you are a player or an official. However, whether these are good enough reasons to spend money and tour, is a different question, because there seems to be no long term objective.

Given that it is one of the few sevens tourneys that the national team participates in, is it worthwhile compromising the fifteen's squad training for a weekend? Especially when the weekend makes us lose all our games? Obviously expectations had to be realistic. Playing alongside New Zealand and Australia was never going to be a easy proposition. The 59-0 and 56-12 reversals to those countries proved the gulf between the rugby cultures. This was also an Australian- team which was shorn of its big players. Zimbabwe might have been a match worth thinking about. The 33-14 loss probably doesn't reflect the long periods of dominance that Zimbabwe had on the game.

The Africans were bigger and stronger, although not necessarily faster. It was a game we could have been competitive in and may have taken a different twist if Radhika Hettiarachchi had the confidence to go for the line or Sanjeeva Jayasinghe had held on to the ball while falling over the line. A try at that stage of the game may have provided the impetus for the individual brilliance of skipper Fazil Marija whose little stutter steps and lateral movement are a joy to behold. He was the architect of both and a finisher of one of the two tries we scored in that game. I didn't see the Japan game but I expect the 26-10 loss to the Asian giants was a proper reflection.

The unfortunate thing about the four losses is that these are easily the best sevens players in the country. There is no doubting that. The only people who might have been on the tour who weren't were the likes of Tuan Shamrock and Wasim Thajudeen the latter who was injured. But that is a subjective opinion and this sevens team with forwards in the calibre of Saranga and Weeraratne are incredibly talented, and to see them thrust into the cauldron of international competition with nothing but a local Mercantile Sevens and Club Sevens at their back is unfair. To judge them on that preparation would also be unfair.

The fact remains that we have the mettle and talent - the boys were heavily motivated - to do well at Asian level. However, if that is the plan, the Interim Committee (IC) needs to dispense with fifteen-a-side rugby and concentrate their efforts solely on sevens by booking the team into tournaments and providing them with specialised training and exposure. It is no coincidence that successful countries have dedicated sevens teams plying their trade completely independent of their fifteens brethren.

This is an unviable alternative for Sri Lanka though as our best sevens players are also our best fifteens players. And one cannot flourish without the detriment of the other.

Abdeen and Simpkin

The IC brought George Simpkin - our long serving ex national coach - back to Sri Lanka, according to them, to oversee the HK sevens and the Asian Five Nations tournament. 

How then, was Hisham Abdeen, admittedly a legendary player in his day, get into the picture? In fact, since queries have been raised on these very pages, along similar lines, it would be interesting to hear the need and justification for two different coaches. In fact, rumour has it that George Simpkin, declined to travel saying he'd rather work with the fifteens.

He was on the plane obviously, as the television pictures indicate, and given that public interest has been piqued, it would be interesting to note the financial wisdom of flying two coaches out and accommodating them when they didn't even seem to be sitting together?

Sudath Sampath and Nishantha 'Alex' Chanaka, are supposedly qualified sevens coaches who have some expertise in the subject. Although experience is valuable, an achievement from a quarter century ago in the same tournament (1984 Bowl Win..yadda yadda ad nauseum) can hardly be the criteria for sevens coaching. Even Nilufer Ibrahim has better coaching credentials in the sevens format.

XV a Side

Unknown to many the Asian Five Nations championship which ironically features only four nations in Sri Lanka's Division kicks off this Wednesday against Chinese Taipei. The sevens team have hardly had a week to fall in line with the fifteens discipline and tour again. They certainly won't have the ability to put on the weight they lost due to the intensive aerobic workout that they received in the run up to the sevens.

They play their second game with just a two day turn around on the 11th of April against the Arabian Gulf or Thailand. It's going to be gruelling especially in the searing dry heat of Dubai.

It is here that Sri Lanka's credibility is at stake. This is a ranking tournament and the gap between finishing fourth or first is miniscule. Sri Lanka must take the opportunity to finish in the top place and gain promotion to the top division and thus enhance their regional position which is no less than we deserve. Further relegation will surely be unacceptable. News reports are emerging of injuries to key players and hopefully this would not make too much difference to the quality of the final team. Both Saliya Kumara and Pradeep Liyanage are reported to have been injured in the sevens. Once again the wisdom of participation is to be questioned.

The IC has been put in place to right the ship. It is also an IC - with emphasis on the word 'interim'. However, rather than slander the previous administration and employees, there seems to have been little tangible work done by the IC. Even Development Officers were supposed not to have been paid recently.

There is little point in the appointment of an IC if they suffer from the same maladies as they are so insistently pointing out what plagued the previous administration. Rugby is the primary consideration and teams were given one day's notice after the second leg of the Club sevens that their players were to report the next day for national training. This hardly smacks of good administration,  if something is not an improvement - why is it there at all?

Cricket - Schools Under 19

Joe - Pete final on Tuesday

St. Peter's College set up a final showdown with their traditional rivals St. Joseph's College while outplaying D. S. Senanayake College by 95 runs in the Munchee inter school under 19 knock out limited overs cricket tournament second semifinal match worked off at the CCC grounds in Maitland Crescent yesterday.

The Peterites recovered from a poor start to amass a formidable 280 for 7 with Akshu Fernando, skipper Angelo Perera and Vinod Perera making significant contributions. The trio then continued their dominance with the ball by sharing eight wickets between them as D. S. Senanayake were dismissed for 185 runs in reply.

The final between St. Peter's College and St. Joseph's College will be played on Tuesday at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place.

St. Peter's: 280 for 7 in 50 overs (A. Fernando 70 n.o, A. Perera 48, V. Perera 69, C. Jayampathy 4 for 44)

D. S. Senanayake: 185 in 40 overs (C. Jayampathy 49, T. Anuruddha 44, A. Fernando 3 for 53, A. Perera 3 for 24, V. Perera 2 for 28)

Clarification

D.S.de silva's father-in-law is not E.W.Balasuriya of sporting Times, but U.W. balasuriya of Delmon Times.

The Sunday Leader regrets the error and pain of mind caused to both parties.