Thursday 25th February, 2010 A test of character for ...pdfs.island.lk/2010/02/25/p15.pdf · was...
1
I was perturbed over a comment made by Mr. Trevor Chesterfield in his regular column in your esteemed newspaper on 22.02.2010. Writing about terrorism and its effect on sports he retraces the history particularly cricket, in the recent past. Then he directly refers to events that led to the boycott of World Cup match- es in Sri Lanka by Australia and West Indies. This is what he wrote: “Now Shane Warne is thinking about his options. He did the same in 1996 during the World Cup when both Australia and West Indies declined to play their games in Colombo after the truck bomb at the Central Bank. Typically, politicians opened their jaws and one crassly suggested how in ref- erence to a remark ‘only sissies go shopping’ when it would have been bet- ter had he said nothing at all. “Forgotten is that at the time nei- ther Australia nor the West Indies were under siege, nor had they a civil war raging on their back doorstep as Sri Lanka had, for a number of years. It is why, so often, politicians need to be more mindful of what they say. Yet, the difference in security arrangements between the 1995 tour of the island with the South African Under-24 side and three years later with the 1998 South African ‘A’side was noticeable.” He does not refer to the politician by name and also does not point out the exact background to the comment by the politician. Let me recap what hap- pened. When Australia decided not to play any World Cup matches in Sri Lanka in 1996, Shane Warne was asked by a journalist, the reasons for same. Shane’s lame excuse was that the bombs prevent them from shopping. To that comment our Foreign Minister at the time, the late Lakshman Kadirgamar PC retorted; “shopping is for sissies.” What he was alluding to was the fact that sportsmen should concentrate on their game and not other matters and security was a mat- ter for the host nation and not sports- men. If that comment had come from any other politician, there would have been a howl of protest in the national and international media. Alas, there was none. Why? The answer is obvious - the stature of the man. He was one of the very few from Asia elected to the office of President of the famous Oxford Union. Then his achievements as a professional at the International Labour Organisation is yet to be matched or surpassed. He was a bril- liant lawyer and attained silk purely on merit. Him turning to politics was purely an accident. It was at the insistence of a former president that he reluctantly accepted a very important portfolio. He was not a politician of the traditional sense as he did not seek any political office by the ballot. He was appointed on the national list to Parliament and appointed Foreign Minister. There is no doubt in the minds of any Sri Lankan, that he was the best Foreign Minister Sri Lanka has ever produced. Given this background of the man, now we have Mr. Trevor Chesterfield telling us that the politician should have kept his mouth shut. Let us remind Mr. Chesterfield that the late Mr. Kadirgamar PC was not a man given to loose talk. When he made that famous quote, surely he had enough and more material to support his claim. What Mr. Kadirgamar PC, said in essence was that Sri Lanka was safe to play cricket in. After all, he was the Foreign Minister and he ought to have had his facts right with regard to secu- rity arrangements when it comes to any international event. Let us also remind Mr. Chesterfield that Sri Lanka is and was capable of providing adequate security to any international sports event. More than Australia, India was at risk by playing cricket in Sri Lanka due to the Tamil politics at the time. Yet, India played in Sri Lanka without any trouble. This is what prompted Mr. Kadirgamar to confidently utter what he did at the time. It was Albert Einstein who said that the world is a bad place not because of bad people but because the good people do nothing about it. Mr. Kadirgamar PC, did everything possi- ble to make Sri Lanka a better place, but we have Mr. Chesterfield advising him not to do anything. Amila K. Perera, Kandy. 15 Thursday 25th February, 2010 Letter Shopping is for Sissies by Reemus Fernando St. Patrick’s College will test their strength in the Division II tournament against a highflying Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai, who have enjoyed remark- able success in the past few months, when the two teams clash in the 93rd ‘Battle of the Golds’ Big Match on Friday and Saturday at St. Patrick’s Grounds, Jaffna. Jaffna’s second oldest Big Match, the ‘Battle of the Golds’ will be special for St. Patrick’s College this year as the school celebrates its 160th anniversary. They have things to celebrate in the field of cricket too as they have advanced to the All Island Under-19 Division II tournament by virtue of good perform- ances in the lower division. After play- ing in the Division III tournament for years, St. Patrick’s achieved the promo- tion, something none of the other schools in the peninsula have been able to accomplish. St. Patrick’s College performances Captained by P. Navatheepan, St. Patrick’s played against Division II teams from the southern part of the country during the past few months. In six outings, they managed to record a single outright victory (against St. Xavier’s College). They also played against a Division I team, D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo, in a friendly match, which they lost by an innings. St. Patrick’s will have their senior players, namely, skipper P. Navatheepan, his deputy Milando Jenifer, A. M. Monoj, M. D. Sajeenthiran, Michael Robert and M. V. Hamilton to rely on when they take on their arch rivals, while several other enthusiastic youngsters await their chance to impress in the big battle. While Milando Jenifer and A. Kavaskar have impressed in the batting department with half centuries during the season, Erick Prathap and M.V. Hamilton boast impressive figures in the bowling department. Jaffna College performances Captained by Pakianathan Srikugan, Jaffna College have recorded seven out- right victories in nine outings this sea- son. They beat Kokuvil Hindu College, Mahajana College, Union College, Manipai Hindu College, Victoria College, Skandavarodaya College and Jaffna Hindu College. The only team to beat them this season was Central College, while their match against St. John’s College ended in a draw. “The team is in good form after recording seven victories and we will go all out to win the trophy,” R. Kugan, the coach of Jaffna College told ‘The Island’. Jaffna College will rest their hopes on experienced players, skipper Pakianathan Srikugan, deputy S. Seeralan, former captain S. Niroshan, last year’s vice captain J. Nigethan and T. Priyalakshan. They have been the leading players this season for Jaffna College, with Nigethan and Priyalakshan making a fearsome open- ing bowling combination and Srikugan, Niroshan and Seeralan making their batting strong. Paceman Priyalakshan has five or more wickets on five occa- sions, and produced a seven wicket haul (7/13) against Kokuvil Hindu College while the highlight of the batting depart- ment was Seeralan’s century against Union College. Jaffna College have not tasted victory in this historic Big Match since 1975, the year they established an all time record for the highest innings score (320). They hope to continue the good form they have shown during the season to record a victory that has not come their way for 35 long years. St. Patrick’s, who lead the series 31- 16, last won in 2007. IMPORTANT STATS Big Match commenced in 1916 Victory tally: St. Patrick’s - 31 (Last won in 2007) Jaffna College -16 (Last won in 1975) Drawn: 27 Results not available: 18 Highest innings score: 320 - Jaffna College (1975) 285 - St. Patrick’s College (1999) Highest individual score: 155 n.o. by A. R. Churchil (St. Patrick’s - 2001) Best Bowling in a match: 13 for 63 by R. Kulasegaram (Jaffna Col. 1950) 13 for 92 by E. M. Thuraisingham (St. Patrick’s 1978) Best Bowling in an innings: 9 for 26 by R. Kalasegaram (Jaffna Col. 1950) 9 for 18 by M. Shanmugamoorthy (Jaffna Col. 1973) 9 for 54 by S. A. Wijeyasundar (St. Patrick’s 1973) Best Wicket keeping: Eight dismissals (3 caught 5 stumped) by A. S. Nishanthan (St. Patrick’s 1993) 93rd Battle of the Golds A test of character for Jaffna rivals Seated from left: A. M. Monoj, M. D. Sajeenthiran, S. Sahayaraj (PoG), P. Navatheepan (Captain), Rev. Fr. Gero Selvanayaham (Rector), S. Milando Jenifer (V. Capt), P. Jeyakumar (MiC), A. S. Nishanthan (Coach), B. Michael Robert, M. V. Hamilton. Standing from left: Marino Sanjay, G. Tishanth Tuder, J. Livington, V. Kuhabala, A. M. Nobert, G. Morison, Erik Prathap, V. Jehan Regilus, R. Ajith Darwin, A. Kavaskar, J. Clington and T. Morris. Seated from left: M. Thileepan (Asst. Coach), S. Komalatharan, S. Niroshan, S. Seeralan (V. Capt), B. L. Mohanakumar (Physical Director), N. A. Wimalendran (Principal), P. Srikugan (Captain), J. Nigethan, B. Prasad, R. Kugan (Coach). Standing from left: S. Vishnujan, P. Sobinathsuvan, R. Bentilkaran, K. Trasopanan, T. Priyalakshan, N. Bengamin Nirushan, S. Kirishan, P. Abirahh and S. Pradeep. St. Patrick’s College Jaffna College Lyceum International School, Wattala, emerged Overall champions to clinch the Lyceum Challenge Trophy at the Inter-International Schools’ Scrabble Championships held at LIS Wattala on February 21. Colombo International School and Gateway College, Kandy, were the first and second runners-up. The event was organized by Lyceum Wattala for the third consecutive year and was spon- sored by VS Hydro (Pvt) Limited. Dr. Lalantha Amarasinghe, President of the Sri Lanka Scrabble League (SLSL) was the chief guest and Kandhan Mahendran, Treasurer, SLSL was the adjudicator. Eight schools, namely Asian International School, Burhani Serendib School, Colombo International School, Gateway College, Kandy, Ikra International School, Leighton Park International School, Lyceum International School, Wattala and Stafford International School par- ticipated in this tournament. A total of 112 players participated in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior categories. The champion team, Lyceum Wattala was trained by Malinda Gunawardena. RESULTS: Junior Category: Migara Jayasinghe of Lyceum Wattala (Champion), Nusrath Sariffodeen of LIS, Wattala (1st Runner-up), Dinelka Perera of LIS, Wattala (2nd Runner- up). Highest Game Score– Migara Jayasinghe of LIS, Wattala. Highest Word Score- Nusrath Sariffodeen of LIS, Wattala. Intermediate Category: Rushda Othman of LIS, Wattala (Champion), Nafise Ahmed of AIS- (1st Runner-up), Vishmika Fernando of LPIS- (2nd Runner-up). Highest Game Score– Rushda Othman of LIS, Wattala. Highest Word Score– Heshan Abeygunasekara of LIS, Wattala. Senior Category: Murtaza Zohair of BSS - (Champion), Asvirndra Ravindra of CIS - (1st Runner-up), Khadija Zoeb of BSS - (2nd Runner-up). Highest Game Score– Dinal Perera of LIS, Wattala. Highest Word Score – Burhanuddin Hamza of LIS, Wattala. Inter Internationals Schools’ Scrabble Championships 2010 Lyceum Wattala clinch Overall Championship The Annual Inter-House Sports Meet of Daranagama Maha Vidyalaya was held at the school grounds last Friday. Western Provincial Council Member Gunasiri Jayanath presents a trophy to the skipper, D. Umeda and Hasitha Rangana of the champion Sagara House team. Principal Mrs. Shiranthi Biyatris Dissanayake was also present. (Delgoda - W. D. Vithana) In the Under-15 Boys’ Kumite 6,5,4 - 3,2,1 Kyu event held at the Matale International S. K. A. Karate Tournament 2010, Grade 10 student L. D. Ravinath Prabashitha of Kalyani Predeepa Vidyayathana Pirivena, Delgoda, won a gold medal. In the Under-15 Boys’ Kumite 3,2,1 Kyu event held at the Colombo National Karate Tournament 2009, he won third place and in the Under- 15 Boys’ Kumite event held at the Colombo 2nd International Shotokam Karate Tournament 2008, he was placed second. He is a member of the International Gi Toku Kai Association. Ravinath Prabashitha’s Instructor is Mahesh Kumarage, who is a well known national instructor (Delgoda - W. D. Vithana)
Transcript of Thursday 25th February, 2010 A test of character for ...pdfs.island.lk/2010/02/25/p15.pdf · was...
Iwas perturbed over a commentmade by Mr. Trevor Chesterfield inhis regular column in your
esteemed newspaper on 22.02.2010.Writing about terrorism and its
effect on sports he retraces the historyparticularly cricket, in the recent past.Then he directly refers to events thatled to the boycott of World Cup match-es in Sri Lanka by Australia and WestIndies. This is what he wrote:
“Now Shane Warne is thinkingabout his options. He did the same in1996 during the World Cup when bothAustralia and West Indies declined toplay their games in Colombo after thetruck bomb at the Central Bank.Typically, politicians opened their jawsand one crassly suggested how in ref-erence to a remark ‘only sissies goshopping’ when it would have been bet-ter had he said nothing at all.
“Forgotten is that at the time nei-ther Australia nor the West Indieswere under siege, nor had they a civilwar raging on their back doorstep asSri Lanka had, for a number of years.It is why, so often, politicians need to bemore mindful of what they say. Yet, thedifference in security arrangementsbetween the 1995 tour of the islandwith the South African Under-24 sideand three years later with the 1998South African ‘A’ side was noticeable.”
He does not refer to the politicianby name and also does not point out theexact background to the comment bythe politician. Let me recap what hap-pened. When Australia decided not toplay any World Cup matches in SriLanka in 1996, Shane Warne was askedby a journalist, the reasons for same.Shane’s lame excuse was that thebombs prevent them from shopping. Tothat comment our Foreign Minister atthe time, the late LakshmanKadirgamar PC retorted; “shopping isfor sissies.” What he was alluding towas the fact that sportsmen shouldconcentrate on their game and notother matters and security was a mat-ter for the host nation and not sports-men.
If that comment had come fromany other politician, there would havebeen a howl of protest in the nationaland international media. Alas, therewas none. Why? The answer is obvious- the stature of the man. He was one ofthe very few from Asia elected to theoffice of President of the famousOxford Union. Then his achievementsas a professional at the InternationalLabour Organisation is yet to bematched or surpassed. He was a bril-liant lawyer and attained silk purelyon merit.
Him turning to politics was purelyan accident. It was at the insistence ofa former president that he reluctantlyaccepted a very important portfolio. Hewas not a politician of the traditionalsense as he did not seek any politicaloffice by the ballot. He was appointedon the national list to Parliament andappointed Foreign Minister. There isno doubt in the minds of any SriLankan, that he was the best ForeignMinister Sri Lanka has ever produced.
Given this background of the man,now we have Mr. Trevor Chesterfieldtelling us that the politician shouldhave kept his mouth shut. Let usremind Mr. Chesterfield that the lateMr. Kadirgamar PC was not a mangiven to loose talk. When he made thatfamous quote, surely he had enoughand more material to support hisclaim. What Mr. Kadirgamar PC, saidin essence was that Sri Lanka was safeto play cricket in. After all, he was theForeign Minister and he ought to havehad his facts right with regard to secu-rity arrangements when it comes toany international event.
Let us also remind Mr. Chesterfieldthat Sri Lanka is and was capable ofproviding adequate security to anyinternational sports event. More thanAustralia, India was at risk by playingcricket in Sri Lanka due to the Tamilpolitics at the time. Yet, India played inSri Lanka without any trouble. This iswhat prompted Mr. Kadirgamar toconfidently utter what he did at thetime.
It was Albert Einstein who saidthat the world is a bad place notbecause of bad people but because thegood people do nothing about it. Mr.Kadirgamar PC, did everything possi-ble to make Sri Lanka a better place,but we have Mr. Chesterfield advisinghim not to do anything.
Amila K. Perera,Kandy.
15Thursday 25th February, 2010
LetterShopping isfor Sissies
by Reemus Fernando
St. Patrick’s College will test theirstrength in the Division II tournamentagainst a highflying Jaffna College,Vaddukoddai, who have enjoyed remark-able success in the past few months,when the two teams clash in the 93rd‘Battle of the Golds’ Big Match on Fridayand Saturday at St. Patrick’s Grounds,Jaffna.
Jaffna’s second oldest Big Match, the‘Battle of the Golds’ will be special for St.Patrick’s College this year as the schoolcelebrates its 160th anniversary.
They have things to celebrate in thefield of cricket too as they have advancedto the All Island Under-19 Division IItournament by virtue of good perform-ances in the lower division. After play-ing in the Division III tournament foryears, St. Patrick’s achieved the promo-tion, something none of the otherschools in the peninsula have been ableto accomplish.
St. Patrick’s College performances
Captained by P. Navatheepan, St.Patrick’s played against Division IIteams from the southern part of thecountry during the past few months. Insix outings, they managed to record a
single outright victory (against St.Xavier’s College). They also playedagainst a Division I team, D. S.Senanayake College, Colombo, in afriendly match, which they lost by aninnings.
St. Patrick’s will have their seniorplayers, namely, skipper P. Navatheepan,his deputy Milando Jenifer, A. M. Monoj,M. D. Sajeenthiran, Michael Robert andM. V. Hamilton to rely on when they takeon their arch rivals, while several otherenthusiastic youngsters await theirchance to impress in the big battle.
While Milando Jenifer and A.Kavaskar have impressed in the battingdepartment with half centuries duringthe season, Erick Prathap and M.V.Hamilton boast impressive figures in thebowling department.
Jaffna College performances Captained by Pakianathan Srikugan,
Jaffna College have recorded seven out-right victories in nine outings this sea-son. They beat Kokuvil Hindu College,Mahajana College, Union College,Manipai Hindu College, VictoriaCollege, Skandavarodaya College andJaffna Hindu College. The only team tobeat them this season was CentralCollege, while their match against St.
John’s College ended in a draw.“The team is in good form after
recording seven victories and we will goall out to win the trophy,” R. Kugan, thecoach of Jaffna College told ‘The Island’.
Jaffna College will rest their hopeson experienced players, skipperPakianathan Srikugan, deputy S.Seeralan, former captain S. Niroshan,last year’s vice captain J. Nigethan andT. Priyalakshan. They have been theleading players this season for JaffnaCollege, with Nigethan andPriyalakshan making a fearsome open-ing bowling combination and Srikugan,Niroshan and Seeralan making theirbatting strong. Paceman Priyalakshanhas five or more wickets on five occa-sions, and produced a seven wicket haul(7/13) against Kokuvil Hindu Collegewhile the highlight of the batting depart-ment was Seeralan’s century againstUnion College.
Jaffna College have not tasted victoryin this historic Big Match since 1975, theyear they established an all time recordfor the highest innings score (320). Theyhope to continue the good form theyhave shown during the season to recorda victory that has not come their way for35 long years.
St. Patrick’s, who lead the series 31-
16, last won in 2007.IMPORTANT STATS
Big Match commenced in 1916Victory tally:
St. Patrick’s - 31 (Last won in 2007) Jaffna College -16 (Last won in 1975) Drawn: 27Results not available: 18
Highest innings score:320 - Jaffna College (1975) 285 - St. Patrick’s College (1999)
Highest individual score: 155 n.o. byA. R. Churchil (St. Patrick’s - 2001)Best Bowling in a match:13 for 63 by R. Kulasegaram (Jaffna Col.1950) 13 for 92 by E. M. Thuraisingham (St.Patrick’s 1978)
Best Bowling in an innings:9 for 26 by R. Kalasegaram (Jaffna Col.1950)9 for 18 by M. Shanmugamoorthy(Jaffna Col. 1973) 9 for 54 by S. A. Wijeyasundar (St.Patrick’s 1973)
Best Wicket keeping:Eight dismissals (3 caught 5 stumped)by A. S. Nishanthan (St. Patrick’s 1993)
93rd Battle of the Golds
A test of character for Jaffna rivals
Seated from left: A. M. Monoj, M. D. Sajeenthiran, S. Sahayaraj (PoG), P.Navatheepan (Captain), Rev. Fr. Gero Selvanayaham (Rector), S. Milando Jenifer (V.Capt), P. Jeyakumar (MiC), A. S. Nishanthan (Coach), B. Michael Robert, M. V.Hamilton. Standing from left: Marino Sanjay, G. Tishanth Tuder, J. Livington, V.Kuhabala, A. M. Nobert, G. Morison, Erik Prathap, V. Jehan Regilus, R. Ajith Darwin,A. Kavaskar, J. Clington and T. Morris.
Seated from left: M. Thileepan (Asst. Coach), S. Komalatharan, S. Niroshan, S.Seeralan (V. Capt), B. L. Mohanakumar (Physical Director), N. A. Wimalendran(Principal), P. Srikugan (Captain), J. Nigethan, B. Prasad, R. Kugan (Coach).Standing from left: S. Vishnujan, P. Sobinathsuvan, R. Bentilkaran, K. Trasopanan,T. Priyalakshan, N. Bengamin Nirushan, S. Kirishan, P. Abirahh and S. Pradeep.
St. Patrick’s College Jaffna College
Lyceum International School,Wattala, emerged Overall champions toclinch the Lyceum Challenge Trophy atthe Inter-International Schools’Scrabble Championships held at LISWattala on February 21.
Colombo International School andGateway College, Kandy, were the firstand second runners-up. The event wasorganized by Lyceum Wattala for thethird consecutive year and was spon-sored by VS Hydro (Pvt) Limited. Dr.Lalantha Amarasinghe, President ofthe Sri Lanka Scrabble League (SLSL)was the chief guest and Kandhan
Mahendran, Treasurer, SLSL was theadjudicator.
Eight schools, namely AsianInternational School, BurhaniSerendib School, ColomboInternational School, Gateway College,Kandy, Ikra International School,Leighton Park International School,Lyceum International School, Wattalaand Stafford International School par-ticipated in this tournament. A total of112 players participated in the Junior,Intermediate and Senior categories.
The champion team, LyceumWattala was trained by Malinda
Gunawardena.
RESULTS:Junior Category: Migara
Jayasinghe of Lyceum Wattala(Champion), Nusrath Sariffodeen ofLIS, Wattala (1st Runner-up), DinelkaPerera of LIS, Wattala (2nd Runner-up).
Highest Game Score– MigaraJayasinghe of LIS, Wattala.
Highest Word Score- NusrathSariffodeen of LIS, Wattala.
Intermediate Category: RushdaOthman of LIS, Wattala (Champion),
Nafise Ahmed of AIS- (1st Runner-up),Vishmika Fernando of LPIS- (2ndRunner-up).
Highest Game Score– RushdaOthman of LIS, Wattala.
Highest Word Score– HeshanAbeygunasekara of LIS, Wattala.
Senior Category: Murtaza Zohairof BSS - (Champion), AsvirndraRavindra of CIS - (1st Runner-up),Khadija Zoeb of BSS - (2nd Runner-up).
Highest Game Score– DinalPerera of LIS, Wattala.
Highest Word Score –Burhanuddin Hamza of LIS, Wattala.
Inter Internationals Schools’ Scrabble Championships 2010
Lyceum Wattala clinch Overall Championship
The Annual Inter-House Sports Meet of Daranagama Maha Vidyalaya was held at the schoolgrounds last Friday. Western Provincial Council Member Gunasiri Jayanath presents a trophyto the skipper, D. Umeda and Hasitha Rangana of the champion Sagara House team. PrincipalMrs. Shiranthi Biyatris Dissanayake was also present. (Delgoda - W. D. Vithana)
In the Under-15 Boys’ Kumite6,5,4 - 3,2,1 Kyu event held atthe Matale International S. K.A. Karate Tournament 2010,
Grade 10 student L. D.Ravinath Prabashitha of
Kalyani PredeepaVidyayathana Pirivena,
Delgoda, won a gold medal. Inthe Under-15 Boys’ Kumite3,2,1 Kyu event held at the
Colombo National KarateTournament 2009, he won
third place and in the Under-15 Boys’ Kumite event held atthe Colombo 2nd InternationalShotokam Karate Tournament2008, he was placed second.
He is a member of theInternational Gi Toku Kai
Association. RavinathPrabashitha’s Instructor is
Mahesh Kumarage, who is awell known national instructor
(Delgoda - W. D. Vithana)
