Sports in Kandy from the last century to recent times

When one thinks of sports in Kandy in the last century the most important thing that comes to mind is the achievement of Duncan White. He was the first Ceylonese to win a silver medal at the Olympics which he achieved in the 1948 Olympic Games held in London. Up to now no other male Sri Lankan athlete has been able to emulate Duncan White. The only other Olympics silver medalist from Sri Lanka was Susanthika Jayasinghe which she achieved as a result of the gold medalist being disqualified.

Later there were the long distance runners who participated in the 10,000 metres event at the Olympics. They were Linus Dias, SLB Rosa and Ranatunga Karunananda. Linus Dias captained the Sri Lanka team at the 1960 Olympics held in Rome. All these athletes were from the Kandy District, and all three had been products of Berreawaerts College in Ampitiya.

Though they were not able to emulate Duncan White in winning any Olympic medals, Karunananda became a hero at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics by completing the last four laps of the race alone after all the other competitors had finished. He was cheered right to the end by the spectators, and he became a hero in Japan as well as in Sri Lanka.

In athletics another product from Kandy was MA Akbar who won a Silver Medal in pole vault at the first Asian Games held in 1951.Both Akbar and his elder brother met with their deaths under tragic circumstances. Whilst Akbar died of a motorcycle accident his elder brother, MA Hakeem died in a freak accident when he was officiating at an athletic meet. This was when a discus accidentally flew off an athlete’s hand and struck him on his head. He succumbed to this injury.

Cricket had two outstanding products of Kandy who brought fame to themselves as well as to the country. They were Muttiah Muralidaran and Kumar Sangakkara. They were from the two rival schools in Kandy, Murali from St. Anthony’s College and Kumar from Trinity College. Both of them hold records in world cricket with Murali holding a bowling record in Test cricket which might remain for a very long time. In addition to these two famous cricketers, there were ACM Lafir and Ruwan Kalpage, both from St. Anthony’s College and TB Kehelgamuwa from Dharmarajah College were in the national team at different eras. Niroshan Dickwella and Lahiru Kumara from Trinity College are presently in the national pool.

Whilst on cricket, I must mention that the first schoolboy cricketer of year was W. Premaratne of St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota when he won he award in 1957 and the second such cricketer was Maurice Fernando of Kingswood College, Kandy who secured the title in 1958.

Hockey was a sport that flourished in Kandy in the mid twentieth century with Kingswood being the leading school whilst Trinity and St. Sylvester’s College also produced good players. The most outstanding hockey player from Kandy was Freddie White (younger brother of Duncan White), an old Kingswoodian who was considered Asia’s best goalie at one time. The other national player from Kandy was Derrick Harvie who was selected as a national player while still a schoolboy at Kingswood. Iqbal Jumar was the third national team player from Kandy (also from Kingswood). The other two who were on the verge of national selection were Mohamed Jumar and WB Adikaram.

On a personal note, the hockey I learnt at Kingswood College helped me to play for the University of Ceylon Peradeniya team and captain the team in my final year. We for the first time won the inter-club tournament conducted by the Kandy District Hockey Association that year. It took the University over a decade to repeat this achievement. I was able to participate in the All-India Inter University Tournament held in Ahmedabad in 1961 as a member along with WB Adikaram another product of Kandy. I also got an opportunity to play as fullback with three illustrious hockey players from Kingswood College – TS Adahan for the Nationalised Services team and Dilsiri “Bullet” Peiris for the Government Services in the Hockey Nationals and with Freddie White for Bloomfield Club in the Andriesz Shield Tournament.

Women’s hockey too became a prominent sport in Kandy with almost all the leading girls’ schools taking to the sport. The game became popular in Kandy after the Kandy Whites women’s team dominated the hockey arena in the 1960s. Zohara Jumar was an outstanding player for Kandy Whites and she secured a place in the national team. Of the other players Nayani Madushani Jayaneththi (product of St. Anthoy’s Convent) takes pride of place as she captained the national hockey team in 2014/2015.

Rugby football was the sport where many players from Kandy excelled. The credit for starting rugby football has to go to Mr. LE Baze’, Founder Principal of Kingswood College who introduced the game at Kingswood in 1893, and the first match was played against Trinity College on August 11, 1906 with the match ending in a draw. Kandy produced most of the national players in rugby football with many of them being from Trinity College. The names of all who have donned the national jersey is too long a list to remember. There have been outstanding players such as Nimal Maralande, Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Mahinda Ratwatte, Eric Roles, Ken De Joodt, Mohan Sahayam, Glen Van Langenberg, etc from Trinity College.

The other players who represented Sri Lanka have come from Kingswood such as Nalaka Weerakkody, Fazil Marija, Eranda Weerakkody , Owen Mattau, Iqbal Jumar, etc, and from Vidyartha which produced players such as TB Wijesinghe, George Jayasena, Edwin Gunaratne, etc, St.Sylester’s had players such as Nimal Leuke, Tony Direckze, Lucky Peiris, etc and Dharmarajah which produced players such as CS Fernando, SU Mendis, Daya Jayasundera, etc. At present the captain of the national rugby football team is the Kandy skipper, Sooriyabandara.

In respect of football, Kandy used to have a very popular and very vigorously played inter-club tournament which attracted a large number of spectators with most of the matches being played at Bogambara grounds. But I cannot recollect any other players of yesteryear who represented Sri Lanka, except for Tom Ossen.

There were some outstanding boxers from Kandy such as Raymond, Bobby Jayaweera and Malcolm Bulner who were products of St. Sylvester’s College. Manju Dinesh Kumara Wanniarachchi (from Vidyartha College) won a Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 in the bantamweight category (but unfortunately he was stripped off his medal after failing a drug test).

Kandy also produced outstanding weight lifters in the SA Wijewickrama brothers and a son Athula, all of whom represented the country. It was Ransilu Jayathilaka who brought fame to Sri Lanka and especially to Kandy by winning medals at the Commonwealth Games and winning the title five times in succession at the Asian Games.

The schools in Kandy are involved in big matches in various sports. The oldest big match in cricket in Kandy is the Battle of the Maroons, that is the big match between Kingswood and Dharmarajah. Then there is the Trinity vs St. Anthony’s College big match. In Rugby the famous school rival matches are the Bradby Shield matches between Trinity and Royal College. There is also the match between Kingswood and Wesley College for the LE Blaze’ trophy. In hockey Kingswood plays Royal for the Lennie de Silva Trophy.

HM NISSANKA WARAKAULLE