Sports

Summa (97) still going strong coaching rugby

Published

4 years ago

2022/08/28

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Former Royal College sportsman and Sri Lanka rugby star Summa Navaratnam is going strong at the age of 97 and is still involved in the Rugby Academy he formed in 2009.He makes it a point to visit the academy and goes there on most days, after lunch, around 2.30 pm. The Sunday Island caught up with Navaratnam for a chat at his home at Kynsey Road, Colombo-8 recently. The nonagenarian happily rattled away recalling fond memories in the sports he took part and the milestones passed in his career as a sportsman and as an administrator,

He is the fifth in a family of eight and certainly was not the child to be attracted to books and education. His focus as a schoolboy was on sports; athletics, boxing and rugby union- all for which he received due recognition in school. He remembers the days when the Royal Primary was called the Training College. “I remember winning the lime and spoon race there,” is how he began unfolding old and fond memories of the initial stages of school life.

Then in 1937 he joined Royal College and excelled in sports; also at the same time barely managing to scrape through his exams. “There was much recognition for sports at Royal and I was looked upon as a demigod by junior students of the school. I say this because a junior student had written something to this effect about me in the college magazine,” recalled Navaratnam.

Life really opened up opportunities for him after he left school and joined CR&FC; thanks to a stalwart in the Police called Sydney de Zoysa. A large number of clubs was playing rugby then and the sport was pursued with great camaraderie among institutes and players, according to Navaratnam.

“No one was heard of going to courts to settle a dispute in sports,” he said underscoring the lofty position and respect everyone gave to maintain the spirit of the game. He was not inclined towards joining any club in particular, but joining CR&FC happened quite by accident. It happened when de Zoysa stopped the vehicle Summa was driving for a ‘no head lights’ offence. They had ended up that evening at the CR&FC with Navaratnam taking membership at the Longden Place club.

According to him players were not paid for their services to the club back then. “Players had to in fact pay the club for the jersey and a fee for being selected for each match they represented the club. We were taught to be independent from our young days,” said Navaratnam.

After leaving school his dream of joining the Royal Air Force was shattered despite being selected because his father withdrew his consent given earlier for this adventure. He ended up joining the Army Volunteer Force. He later served the State Trading Corporation (Consolexpo) too.

Despite having a hectic work schedule he continued his interest in sport. Athletics is close to his heart as is rugby. He has fond memories of running the race of his life against Lavy Pinto at the athletics nationals where both athletes returned timings of 11 seconds in the 100 metre sprint event. What’s memorable for him was that after running the race he had gone to the CR&FC that same evening and represented the club at a Division 1 rugby match.

Navaratnam married twice and as he recalled he met both his wives within the rugby community. He was first married to Rosemary Rogers, the bestselling author, with whom he raised two children. His second marriage was to Romaine de Zilwa. His present wife lives in Australia where Navaratnam has citizenship.

When his playing days came to an end he took to rugby administration. He became the president of the Ceylon Rugby Football Union and was also the first president of Sri Lanka’s rugby controlling body when this sports body was renamed as the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).

Navaratnam stood for principles and ensured that all clubs at the time showed that they really existed. According to him, all clubs had to have a ground, conduct their own annual general meetings and submit accounts of the club to the rugby union. “We got along very well and the players accepted the decision of the referee without batting an eyelid,” said Navaratnam.

But there was a sour moment waiting to spoil his tenure as president of the SLRFU. Before a tour was to be made by the Sri Lanka side for the Hong Kong sevens a representative team was selected with Navaratnam approving selections. He had then gone overseas for a work related assignment and when he arrived back home he came to know that some changes had been made to the team without his knowledge. He had shown disapproval and in the end he forwarded his resignation as SLRFU president.

Navaratnam was involved with Royal College rugby for many years as a coach and gave away his services for free. But the Reid Avenue school, in later years, brought in a policy to employ only professional coaches for rugby. That rule technically took him out of being involved in rugby coaching at Royal. Undeterred he met the Royal principal and proposed that he be allowed to start a sports academy which would help students at Royal take baby steps in the field of sport. That marked the birth of the Royal Junior Rugby Academy. “Students from grades one to six are entertained at the academy and they are given an introduction to physical sports. These training sessions help to improve hand-eye co-ordination of players. The sessions will also help them work on speed and stamina,” said Navaratnam.

As much as Navaratnam talks about his fondness for rugby he also speaks about the people he met and the friendships he made, thanks to rugby. “I met a wide variety of people from different walks of life,” he said. He had all the time to enjoy rugby and absorb other cultures because he accommodates everybody who comes to him as students, players and officials. Navaratnam affirms that in a multi-cultural country like Sri Lanka students must be taught all three languages spoken in the country and the philosophies of all five religions that are practised here at a very young age.

His parting words at the interview were, “Don’t make playing rugby be hard on you. Forget winning and losing and make sure to enjoy the game”.

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Sports

Look out for Mayon as field event athletes begin action at Diyagama

Published

6 hours ago

2026/10/16

Thilina Walpola

Mayon Rajasinghe

All Island Schools Games Athletics Championships

by Reemus Fernando

‎The Under 18 boys’ shot put meet record will be under severe threat today, when the most talked-about thrower of the last All Island Schools Games Athletics Championships takes to the field on the opening day at Diyagama.

‎Mayon Rajasinghe, now competing for his third school in four years, has shown steady progress this season and appears to be peaking at the right time to attempt another record-breaking performance on the junior circuit.

‎Having recently set a new meet record of 17.31m at the Western Province Schools Games, Mayon will now try to surpass the All Island Schools Games Under 18 record of 17.15m.

‎The first two age-category records in the Games’ shot put event already bear his name. He set the current Under 14 record of 15.13m while representing Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa. Last year, while attending St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road, he shattered the Under 16 meet record with a throw of 18.57m using the 4kg shot. It is the furthest any Sri Lankan has thrown in the Under 16 category at any meet, from the Junior National Championships to the Sir John Tarbat Senior Championships to the Schools Games.

‎Yet the outstanding performance did not receive the recognition it deserved. His father, who also trains him, was adamant that the then 16-year-old deserved the meet’s Best Athlete title. The organisers disagreed, citing the differing weights of implements across age categories as their reason for setting the performance aside. No clear criteria had been announced before the meet, which made such disappointment all but inevitable. Senior Rajasinghe’s outburst after the presentation ceremony, and the social media backlash that followed, have had an effect: the Ministry of Education has now published criteria for selecting the meet’s best athlete. However, it remains doubtful whether the criteria in the competition manual can offer athletes in different age categories and disciplines an equal opportunity to have their performances assessed fairly.

‎This year Mayon represents Holy Cross College, Kalutara. He has picked up where he left off last year, breaking record after record, and is poised to make an impact once again.

‎The championship begins with a card of eight finals. Around 5,000 athletes in the Under 14, 16, 18 and 20 age categories, representing all nine provinces, will take part in the five-day event after qualifying through house, divisional, zonal and provincial competitions.

Sports

57th Annual Saints’ Quadrangular Tournament on Saturday and Sunday

Published

6 hours ago

2026/10/16

Thilina Walpola

The much-anticipated 57th Annual Saints’ Quadrangular Tournament which brings together four of Sri Lanka’s leading Catholic schools, St. Anthony’s College, Kandy, St. Benedict’s College, Colombo 13, St.Joseph’s College, Colombo 10, and St. Peter’s College, Colombo 04, for a weekend of spirited competition, camaraderie and nostalgia is scheduled to take place this weekend (weather permitting).

This year’s tournament is being hosted by the St. Peter’s College Old Boys’ Union (SPCOBU) during its Centenary year, marking 100 years since the Union was founded in 1927. The Centenary celebrates a century of service to the College and the Peterite community, under the theme “Honouring the Past, Strengthening the Present, Inspiring the Peterite of Tomorrow.”

The origins of the ‘Saints Quadrangular Tournament’ trace back to 1963, during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of St. Benedict’s College. An open invitation was extended to schools across the country for a cricket tournament, and coincidentally, only the above three premier Catholic institutions joined

What began as a two-day cricket encounter has evolved into a multi-sport carnival that continues to embody the true spirit of sportsmanship and fraternity.

In 2002, the organizers introduced a 25-over Cricket Tournament for players aged 40 and above, allowing past cricketers to once again represent their beloved alma mater. Two years later, in 2004, Basketball was added to the lineup, enriching the event further given the strong basketball heritage of the four schools.

Continuing its evolution, 7-a-side Rugby was introduced in 2014, transforming the Saints’ Quadrangular into a vibrant sports carnival that now features three major sports across four tournaments namely Cricket, over 40 Cricket, Basketball, and Rugby.

Sports

Pathum Nissanka ruled out of Pakistan tri series

Published

6 hours ago

2026/10/16

Thilina Walpola

Pathum Nissanka

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka have suffered a major setback ahead of the ODI tri-series in Pakistan, with prolific opening batsman Pathum Nissanka ruled out of the tournament, which gets underway on Sunday. England are the third team in the competition, with Sri Lanka taking on hosts Pakistan in the curtain raiser.

Nissanka, who missed the T20I series with a hamstring injury, had been expected to recover in time for the ODI leg of the tour. However, his rehabilitation has taken longer than anticipated. The selectors initially remained hopeful that he could feature towards the business end of the tournament, but yesterday confirmed that the opening batsman would play no part in the competition.

The focus now shifts to getting him fit for the two match Test series against Pakistan next month.

Nissanka’s NCC team mate Lahiru Udara has been drafted in as his replacement for the ODI series.

A source close to the team said Nissanka would now target the warm up fixture ahead of the Test series to prove his fitness and stake his claim for a return to the longer format.

Since making his international debut in 2021, Nissanka has established himself as Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsman across formats, playing a starring role in several memorable victories.

A mountain of runs in domestic cricket paved the way for his international breakthrough and he announced his arrival in style with a century on Test debut in the Caribbean. He subsequently etched his name into the record books by becoming the first Sri Lankan to score a double hundred in One Day Internationals.

If there were lingering doubts about his pedigree in Test cricket, Nissanka put them to bed at The Oval in 2024. Against a formidable England pace attack in testing conditions, he produced a masterclass in batting, helping Sri Lanka pull off a famous victory on English soil.

Earlier this year, he delivered another telling blow, this time against Australia in the T20 World Cup. His magnificent century sent one of the pre tournament favourites packing and underlined his ability to rise to the occasion on the biggest stage.

His remarkable consistency and versatility across all three formats earned him the prestigious Player of the Year honour at the Annual Cricket Awards, where he was the cynosure of all eyes.

However, injuries have increasingly become a stumbling block in what has otherwise been a flourishing career.

Nissanka was forced to return home midway through the tour of the West Indies to undergo wrist surgery in the United Kingdom. He was expected to recover in time for the two match home Test series against India, but that target proved beyond his reach.

Although he returned to action for the white ball series in England, he struggled to make an impact. Now, another injury setback has put him out of the ODI tri-series in Pakistan, leaving Sri Lanka without their premier opening batsman at a time when the team can ill afford to lose its most dependable run scorer.