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Thursday 11th March, 2010 15 opularity and Unruffled by any idea of one’s ranks and records, Harshana match of this year’s Davis Cup tie. money have Godamanna, on right, went on the rampage in one of the King-Turner was 227 in the grand list “Pdistanced him best, if not the best, displays of tennis seen from a Sri which that amazing Swiss Roger from us. He called us Lankan in this generation. Still the feat was overshadowed Federer leads. ‘ayya’ (elder brother) by inter-provincial cricket in the following day media. Here, Unruffled by any idea of one’s those days. Now when he ‘Godda’ with the Sri Lanka cricket captain Kumar ranks and records, Godamanna went sees us, he’d just say, Sangakkara. on the rampage in one of the best, if ‘Machang, gihilla ennan’ (Pic by Nishan S. Priyantha/Files) not the best, displays of tennis seen (I’ll see you). Now the from a Sri Lankan in this generation. b****** is head-swollen”. After losing the first two sets 4-6 and 4- That was a reference 6, ‘Godda’ levelled the match, winning made by a co journalist to a the next two by 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) in frantic prominent member of the five-hour long mid-day battle for national cricket team. Yes, supremacy until the Kiwi pro suc- cricket in Sri Lanka involves cumbed due to leg cramps before vom- a lot of money and a conse- iting, unable to cope with extreme tem- quential ‘pop’ factor. It is perature and humidity. immensely popular at all The match was then forfeited to social levels. Cricket is the Godda in the fifth set, which he was king of sport here. Others are leading 3-0, to the utmost jubilation of all its subordinates. Of them, the sparse Sunday crowd. Never in the tennis, one last Bastian of the recent history of really colonial sport in Sri this country, ten- Lanka, is only a very trivial nis has seen such subordinate. an overwhelming Cricket to the fore upset. But sadly, a The fact that tennis too had truly defining been on par with cricket at the moment of a sport dawn of the last century is a in the island had worthless argument now. That the been overshad- famous C. H. and C. I. owed by a mere Gunasekeras played for Ceylon not only in cricket but also in tennis, inter-provincial that both Ceylon and India --or event in the media Madras (later Tamil Nadu)-- were sports coverage, involved in a long-running tradi- both that night tional cricketing dual for the and the day after. famous M. J. Gopalan Trophy but The provincial also in tennis, mostly in the Davis event was, no Cup where legendary Indians like wonder, a cricket- Ramanathan Krishnan, Anand and ing one. Vijay Amritraj, Shiv-Prakash Misra, What sad mes- Sashi Menon, Premjit Lall and Anura Tennekoon, the famous All- coach, Sylvester Francis. A lanky achieved a career high 811 in Oct., 2008, sage does this Jaidip Mukerjea played against the top Ceylon cricketers then, in the posh Royal College student was just 16 when before leaving the men’s professional whole scenario give us? We are com- Ceylonese players then; these events upper class discourse. he first played for Sri Lanka in a Davis tour circuit (the ATP) disgruntled. pelled to see what we don’t want to see. made the vivid memory of the mainly Enter Godamanna Cup, in Dhaka in 2002. Overshadowed The highlights we watch are not really Colombo-based sports enthusiasts of But, now the times have changed. Then, since 2005, this wiry left han- But Godamanna, after retiring from ‘highlights’. Some golden opportunities the 1950s, ’60s and the ’70s. Cricket and There is hardly anyone who knows der, with a some what outdated single- the tour, continued with his training, are missed. Sports like tennis would’ve tennis had no big difference in their who plays tennis for Sri Lanka these handed style back-hand stroke, has playing in local tourneys expecting to made use of them in a more useful histories. days. Only the limited tennis fraternity been able to emerge as the leading con- leave for the US for his higher studies. manner. Until cricket underwent its recent is keen to know that. It has come down tender in the island’s tennis. He has Harshana was, though, never to miss a Cricket broke its colonial shackles transformation, both tennis and it to a virtual private show of Green been able to carry single-handedly the Davis Cup as he reckoned it a true through time, through ideological were basically ‘colonial’ and were Path, Colombo 7, where one finds the country’s hopes when they’re out of ‘national duty’ of any tennis player. He breakdown, and the effort of some restricted more or less to the elite. national association of tennis. It does- Sri Lanka. You miss ‘Godda’, you miss played for Sri Lanka this year too, brave men, and now it has entered a Names of top national level men’s ten- n’t have at least 25 active clubs round the match, the tie and everything. That when she met New Zealand in Colombo different era in its evolution here. With nis players, ‘Koo’ de Saram, Rupert the island now. In this disheartening has been the norm for six long years for the first time in the history, after some rare prospects like Godamanna, Ferdinands, Bernard Pinto, D. D. N. context enters the Godamanna factor! now. helping the country qualify for the tennis too could achieve such break- Selvadurai, P. Senaka Kumara, A four-year-old son of Thilak In 2006, he went pro –a brave and Davis Cup Zonal Group 2 last year in throughs. Tennis too ought to herald Lasantha Fernando, Arjun Fernando Godamanna, prominent businessman highly expensive move that not a sin- Syria, following a decade-long stagna- Kumar Sangakkaras. It is not to make and Frank Sebaratnam, etc. were often and the producer of the critically gle other tennis player in this country tion in the lowest Group 3 and 4. future tennis ‘stars’ richer and dis- talked about in the same breath along acclaimed Vijaya – Malini film hit, thought of making since Arjun Last Sun. (March 7) at the SLTA in tanced from their old friends, like with names of F. C. de Saram, Ben ‘Bambaru Ewith’, directed by the emi- Fernando (who had been ranked 293 in Colombo, he met the Kiwi No.1 Daniel some top cricketers, but to make the Navaratne, Sargo Jayawickrema, nent Dharmasena Pathiraja in the late the world over 30 years ago)— and King-Turner, who was probably the game more accessible, more diversified Mahadevan Sathasivam, T. B. 1970s, began playing tennis under the went to Bangkok to train fulltime highest ranked to play in Sri Lanka in in participation and to one day make Kehelgamuwa, Michael Tissera and tutelage of a leading Colombo-based under Dominik Utzinger. Harshana the recent history, in a key singles our national team full of ‘Goddas’. Sri Lanka beat hosts India in by D. Jayasundara who chipped the title clash of the WFL T20 in with 34 off 27 that contained Abans and Linea Aqua qualify Afro Asia Cup winning by three four hits to the fence and one six. wickets with three balls to spare The other main contributor for for Mercantile ‘E’ Division final at the Lal Bahadur Stadium, the Lankans was C. Mapatuna Hyderabad. SL win WFL T20 Afro-Asia Cup who took 24 off 21 balls. Unbeaten, Abans Group and once The hosts won the toss and Amidst the carnage caused beaten, Linea Aqua had easy passage decided to bat first. India made a by the Lankan batsmen, the slow start, courtesy some tidy Indians did boost hopes of an to the Final of the David Pieris Motor bowling by the Lankans. At the unlikely win by reducing their Co-Ltd., sponsored, “Bajaj” challenge half-way mark, the hosts were opponents to 150 for 7 but R. trophy. MCA Division ‘E’ 40-overs placed at 43 for 1, before the Gamage (12 n.o.) held his nerve League tournament, winning their acceleration began. Kunal to clinch the contest with three Semi-Final matches played last week- Dubey scored a patient 35 off 45 balls to spare. end balls in a knock that contained For the Indians, Syed Anwar In the top half Semi-finals , two fine two fours and a six. However, it was the pick of the lot, bagging half centuries by Vinod Kumar (81 not was the 81- run third wicket four wickets while conceding 22 out in 84 balls with ten fours and two stand between Ilyas Jubedi (49) runs. Others to shine with the sixes ) and Ruvin Peiris ( 71 runs in 54 and Apurva Sharma (48 n.o.) ball were Shivam Mishra (1/24) balls inclusive of 12 fours) and a mes- that took the Indian total to 159 and Parveet Kumar (1/30). merizing 03 overs bowled by Nalaka for 3 in the stipulated 20 overs. Kashawa was adjudged the Gunawardena, which yielded 04 wick- Apurva’s knock had a soli- Man-of-the-match while Y.A. ets for just 03 runs, propelled Abans tary boundary and two hits sail- Imran and Md Jasimuddin (both Groups to a crushing 138 run win over ing over the ropes while Ilyas from Bangladesh) bagged the Akbar Brothers. was more aggressive of the duo, best bowler and best batsman of In the bottom half semi-final, the taking the aerial route to hit five the tournament respectively.

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