“Experience gave me confidence to win” -
Chess Queen Vineetha

By Dhammika Ratnaweera
Vineetha Wijesuriya retained the national women’s title for the second successive year when she won her last round game against Mihirani Jayatilleka. This is the eleventh year that Vineetha has secured the National Crown previously having won the title from 1989 - 1991, 1998 - 2003 and for the tenth year in 2007. “It was experience that gave me the confidence to win the title once again. It was a tremendous achievement,” said Vineetha who has broken the record in Sri Lanka Chess previously held by her sister Suneetha, the Chess Olympiad gold medalist, who presently works as a chess promoter.

Vineetha also said this National Championship was very competitive. Three former players with Chess Olympiad experience participated this time with four other senior players. The rest of the players were talented school players. “I was lucky to maintain an unbeaten record throughout the tournament with Lihini Walalallawita from Musaeus College who also had an unbeaten record. However I had more victories which enabled me to go ahead with 0.5 points to get the major title. I had full confidence before the tournament and my experience paved the way to get this success,” said Vineetha.

Speaking of her future plans she said: “At the moment I haven’t a coach and train with the computer. But I must thank my first coach my sister Suneetha and also the experienced Indian coach Manual Eram. The National Chess Federation already promised to give me the chance to take part in the next Chess Olympiad in Germany scheduled to be held in the first week of November. They are going to select the first five in the Nationals for this Olympiad. If I get this chance most probably I have to play board number one and hope to do my best in this competition. I had previous experience at five Chess Olympiads in Philippines, Armenia, Turkey, Slovenia and Spain. In addition I got a chance to play in three Asian Championships in Singapore (twice) and India. I came third at the World Higher Education Chess Championship.”

Vineetha works as an ayurvedic physician and has a busy schedule in her life. “I have to do my family work with my profession. Apart from that I do chess coaching classes for five schools. However I never forget to do my individual practices every day for one hour at night. I am very happy my students from Gateway International, Carey, Musaeus, Methodist and Royal Primary are actively involved in the sport. Today there is very high competition among the school chess players. But the quality of the game has to improve. Today players use many tactics to add psychological pressure to upset their opponents mentally. This was not heard of in Sri Lanka those days. So I think this victory is very special to me despite the strong competition,” she said.

During the tournament Vineetha had an unfortunate experience which caused her concern. “Today some coaches work as tournament referees and they always tend to favour their students. I had to face this situation during this National. For example; I did not receive extra time during the first six games. I informed this unfair incident to the Federation. The National Chess Federation does their best to promote the game. But tournament referees are outsiders and they do a paid job. However, I think tournament referees have to do their job impartially,” she said.

The Tournament Director, Malinda Seneviratna was highly commended by Vineetha for the fine support extended by him towards the success of this tournament.

Vineetha also pointed out that, unlike other sports, age considerations are not of great consequence for Chess. But players have to maintain high standards, confidence and a passion to win during their career. I aim to continue in chess for a long time and also wish to give my services to promote the sport among youth as a coach.

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Pushpakumara targets snooker title

By M. Naushad Amit
One might wonder who WM Prasanna Pushpakumara is and how he is connected to sports. Popularly known as ‘Suji’ in the billiards and snooker circuit in Sri Lanka, Pushpakumara has done his best as a cueist during the past fifteen years to earn a good name. Last year was challenging for Pushpakumara as for the first time in his fifteen-year career as a cueist he entered into the administration as an assistant tournament secretary of the governing body. The tournament secretary Mohamed Sharwadie who nominated Pushpakumara to the billiards and snooker portfolio left his designated responsibility without giving a valid reason leaving the tournament secretary position vacant. The president of B&SASL - Mervyn Jayasinghe promoted Pushpakumara as the successor leaving him with a greater challenge as the new tournament secretary. “It was a huge challenge since it was my first time in the office. But I managed to conduct all tournaments very smoothly within very short periods whereas it took three to four months to finish a tournament earlier,” said Pushpakumara. His hard work in his first year as an administrator was praised by all including Jayasinghe and general secretary Pani Somaratne.

As a player Pushpakumara first held a cue in 1989 but his career as a cueist started brimming once he joined the YMBA in Borella in 1994. Surprisingly Pushpakumara has never received any training as a professional cueist in the country. Unfortunately for him a temporary breakdown in the administration structure in the YMBA during the 1990s resulted in him making a late entry as a newcomer in his favourite sport, snooker. Yet in 1999 he went on to participate in his first major snooker tournament at the Colombo district level.

Surely Pushpakumara was a bit too late in making his debut as the club he represented, the YMBA, did not have a clue of what is happening. According to Pushpakumara he had to hunt for tournaments, “During the mid-1990s the YMBA faced a complete breakdown. There was nobody to administer the billiards and snooker section. So the cueists at YMBA had no news of any tournaments that were held. All players at the YMBA went their own ways hunting for tournaments as they were really desperate to participate in a tournament. At last I got a break in 1999 when I was invited by the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka to take part in the Colombo District Snooker Tournament and by then the YMBA was back to normal,” recalled Pushpakumara.

In 2003 he emerged runner-up of the national snooker championship creating a major upset. Before that feat Pushpakumara became the Colombo district snooker champion in 2002. He enjoyed being among the top sixteen snooker players in the country in years 2003 and 2004. After being ranked No. 2 in the 9-Ball Pool championship and No. 3 in snooker in 2007, Pushpakumara came up to claim the fourth spot at the national snooker and billiards rankings in current standings. After fourteen years in the game he is yet to claim a national title. For some reason he crashed in the latter stages of almost all the tournaments in the recent years. “I naturally find it hard to compete in a cold surrounding. Though air-conditioning is a must to the billiards and snooker rooms these days, I’ve done my practices under hot conditions at YMBA which suits me very well. I am finding it very difficult to play under air-conditioning for a long time. This problem affected me very badly on my way to clinch a national snooker title on quite a few occasions,” said Pushpakumara.

Though failing to come to the top in the national snooker tournament in recent years, Pushpakumara has managed to challenge the top runners namely Susantha Boteju and MLM Fazal in the past couple of years. But unfortunately for the dedicated cueist he got knocked out of the tournament in 2007 due to illness. In the 2008 snooker nationals he beat the former champion Boteju by 4 frames to 3 in the round-robin stages having a promising start but falling short of consistency playing under the air-conditioner which is his main disadvantage.

After this year’s Annual General Meeting which concluded last week he withdrew from his post giving way to Priyantha Samaratunge who applied for the position. Setting a very good example, Pushpakumara withdrew to prevent a contest for the post. But his good conduct during the past year earned him a better break when he was given the role of chairman of the training and development committee which is a new portfolio in the billiards and snooker governing body. In this new position he will be responsible for training of players and developing the infrastructural facilities of the sport to higher standards. “I resigned from the post I held after knowing Samaratunga had applied. But the higher authorities wanted something out of me. So they offered me this new designation in order to develop the sport and the players. I have a challenging role ahead of me and with three experienced committee members I’m sure I can do something this year. I surely appreciate the support I receive from the president – Mervyn Jayasinghe” said Pushpakumara.

The new committee’s responsibility is all about developing the sport and its players. As their initial step the committee is planning to uplift the standards of the governing body to international standard. It will be followed with upgrading facilities of the affiliated clubs. They are also hoping to provide playing equipment and accessories to less privileged cueists in the country who are keen to take up the sport. In addition an internationally qualified coach from India or Pakistan is to come down to Sri Lanka for the first time in the history of billiards and snooker, at the time when the governing body celebrates their golden year. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka the islanders are yet to find their own talent in coaching according to Pushpakumara. “For the first time after 50 years Sri Lanka is going to have a foreign coach. Though having world class players in Sri Lanka, unfortunately none of these players is capable of being a good coach. Of course anyone can guide one in the basics but nobody can relate it in the technically correct way. As far as I’m concerned only Susantha Boteju has a sound coaching knowledge after taking part in international coaching camps in Europe and Asia Pacific. Apart from Susantha, Indika Dodangoda and Naresh Samarawickrama were lucky enough to receive training from foreign experts. There is a vast difference in coaching in Sri Lanka compared to other countries. Up to this instant all local cueists are self-coached which is a pity. Hopefully things will change for Sri Lanka sooner or later,” expressed Pushpakumara. With all these responsibilities Pushpakumara still has his eyes on the national snooker title which he hopes to achieve in the next couple of years. Whatever positions he holds this aim still remains as one of his top priorities.

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SLT hosts annual seven-a-side soccer

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the nation’s number one integrated communications service provider held its annual seven-a-side soccer tournament recently at the Shalika Ground, Narahenpita and the finals were held at the CR & FC grounds. It was organised by the SLT Soccer Association and Employee Relations and Welfare Division. Leisha Chandrasena de Silva, Chairperson of SLT was the chief guest at the final matches. Chrysantha Perera, CEO of Football Federation of Sri Lanka and KAE Atapattu, treasurer of Mercantile Football Association also attended the event.

The main objective behind this event was the strengthening of teamwork and relationships among employees as the company converged on technologies with the aim of adding more value to its customers. For this year’s tournament, 50 men’s teams played head-to-head for the Champion & President’s trophies. Team ‘Telecourier’ and team ‘Ratmalana OPMC B’ qualified for the Champion trophy final, and ‘Telecourier’ beat ‘Ratmalana OPMC B’ by 3 - nil. The President’s trophy final was won by the team ‘Trinco Sevens,’ while the team ‘Golden Foot’ was runner-up by 1- nil. Also, five ladies soccer teams participated for the Ladies trophy and team ‘Angels’ & team ‘Cool Girls’ qualified for the final. Angels won the trophy by 1 - nil. Teams were represented from Administration, Finance, Marketing, Corporate, Global, Network, IT, and Operations Groups as well as teams from the regional offices around the country.

“We encourage a wide range of sports at SLT. We gain so much from playing sports - from sportsmanship, making new friends, being a team player and physical exercise. Most importantly, it helps in showing commitment to develop and strengthen relationships through sports as well as being able to face the challenges in the industry,” said Lakshman Perera, General Manager/Global Network Operations and President of the SLT Soccer Association.

In addition to this, SLT soccer team participated in a friendly match with Mobitel. This event helped to strengthen the relationship between the two companies, going beyond work place activities.

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Kavindra, Inter-International Schools Netball Queen

K Chamathka Kavindra has excelled in many sports for her school, Gateway International College. In the 2003/04 all island karate meet she emerged first in Kumite and third in Kata. Kavindra was also a member of the Gateway football team which was placed second in the Inter-International Schools football tournament in 2006 and 2007. She won the javelin throw setting a new meet record in the Inter-International Schools athletic meet in 2007. In the same year she was placed first in javelin throw in the zonal meet, placed second in the junior nationals and placed third in the John Tarbet meet.

This year too Kavindra continued with good results in javelin throw as she was placed first in the zonal meet followed by another first place in the junior nationals. In the Inter-International Schools athletic meet this year she became first in shot putt and javelin throw setting a new meet record and placed third in the discus throw. She was also a member of the champion basketball team in the Inter-house athletic and sports meet this year. She was named the Netball Queen in the tournament consecutively in 2007 and 2008. With her family being a great asset to her successes in sports, her sporting career is blessed with the backing of RIT Alles – Chairman of Gateway International School, Pradeep Nishantha – athletic coach, Tharindu Fernando – basketball coach, Yamuna Perera and K Nayanthi – netball coach and Sisira Kumara – karate coach. She also thanked the principal and the teachers of her former school Anula Vidyalaya, Nugegoda for their support.

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MCA Cricket Academy 6th anniversary today

The MCA Cricket Academy will be celebrating their 6th anniversary today. The brain child of former MCA President, Chris Obeyesekere, the MCA Cricket Academy was inaugurated during his tenure in 2002, at its indoor nets facility with just 3 students.

After 6 years of intensive caring it has grown and flourished into a population of 125 students at the ages of 7 to 17 years.
The academy comes under the purview of the MCA Development Committee, headed by a Vice President and Directors, Basil Perera and Jerry Woutersz. The Head Coach is Sarath Perera and Asst. Coach is Namal Seneviratne.

Coaching classes are conducted at the MCA indoor nets facility every Saturday (2 sessions), Sunday (2 sessions) and Monday (1 session) and is strictly confined to 25 students per session.

The MCA Cricket Academy in the 2007-08 season had the proud distinction of producing 5 school’s U-13 captains and 2 Vice Captains. The Captains being, Aravindh Fernando (St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10); Usman Ishak (S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia); Rumal Fernando (St. Benedicts’ College, Kotahena); Dilruk Subasinghe (S. Thomas’ Prep School) and Nishan Perera (Lyceum International, Nugegoda). The Vice Captains were Sachien Hewawasam (St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10) and Nisal Gunasinghe, (Lyceum International, Nugegoda).

Head Coach Sarath Perera and his young assistant, Namal Seneviratne are indeed doing a great service in their “Boys-to-Men” quest, as they endeavor to fine-tune one’s temperament ability and indulgence.LW

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Mithun out of Malaysian Open

South Asia’s No.1 golfer Mithun Perera went out in the second round of the 106th Malaysian Amateur Open concluded at the Kelab Golf Negara Subang on Wednesday.

Perera, 22 who is a member of the Sri Lanka Amateur golf team and ranked 22 in Asia started off well with victory over Singapore’s Joshua Shou winning 3 and 2. But in the next round he was beaten 1-up by Malaysia’s Iszuimi Ismail.

Perera who is considered a bright young prospect for Sri Lanka is a past pupil of President’s College, Kotte and is employed at E-wis. His past track record includes gold medals at the 9th SAF games in Nepal (individual and team), runner up at Pakistan amateur championships in 2008 and national champion in 2006.

Koh Dengshan of Singapore won the Malaysian Open final defeating Filipino Dante Becierra 2 and 1.
In the consolation match, Alex Tiong of Malaysia overcame Australia’s Paul Mews 1-up for a fine third place finish.

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Browns Dealer Promotion Awards Ceremony

Text & photo by M. Farook Lantra
The General Trading Division of Brown and Company PLC held its award ceremony for the Best Dealers in Colombo Suburbs at the Boardroom of Browns on May 28th.

Sixteen valued dealers were honoured by Browns for their performance in the marketing of three leading brands MAKITA, TAILIN and MAKTEC.

The awards were presented by Murali Prakash, CEO/Group Managing Director of Browns. Also present was Chaminda Ediriwickrama General Manager of General Trading Division.
Murali Prakash in his speech thanked all the valued dealers for the excellent support over the years.

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Musaeus excel at TT

Musaeus College under-19 team won the Western Province National Schools Table Tennis championship 2008 and their U-16 team emerged runner-up at the All Island Inter-school TT championships.

Seated: Nuwani Senanayake (Captain), Dinesha Weerasinghe (Teacher-in-change) S. Dandeniya (Deputy Principal), N. K. Pilapitiya (Principal), N. Thalagala (POG), Rangi Hewawasam (Teacher-in-charge), Krishani Ranatunga (Teacher-in-charge).

Standing: Chaushalya De Silva, Dilmi De Silva Uthpala Pitawala, Uthpala Pushpakumara, Tharani Sooriyaarrachchi, Hasini Gunatunga, Githmi de Silva, Ruvini Kannangara.

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