If someone is looking for one of the top Sri Lankan sportsmen with brains and brawn and of course smart looks to go with it and an unassuming personality to win the hearts of all his admirers and opponents, then one person stands out. He is none other than Priyantha Ekanayake, arguably one of the greatest sportsmen ever produced by St. Anthony’s College Katugastota and one who entertained and inspired many Sri Lankans for over three decades or more.
Priyantha represented St. Anthony’s College 1st XI Cricket team, 1st XV Rugby team, Senior Basketball team and Athletics team and was the captain of College Rugby & Basketball teams in 1984 He has the rare distinction of being a double International representing the country in both Basketball and Rugby
In Rugby, Priyantha stamped his class and donned the CH & FC jersey in 1985 and 1986 and played for CR & FC from 1987 to 1991 captaining CR & FC in 1990 His elder brother LV too went onto captain CR & FC in the following year. Both of them were involved in reviving the passion for rugby in Kandy when they crossed over to Kandy Sports Club along with Inthisham Marikar and Sheham Siddik in 1992. He led the Kandy SC admirably during the 90’s while captaining the National Rugby teams from 1986-1997 including four consecutive Rugby Asiads 1990 to 1996 and at the prestigious Hong Kong 7’s (1989-1992) tournaments.
Then as an individual his personal achievement was Captaining the Asian Barbarians in 1995 where big made Japanese, Korean and Hong Kong players whom he competed against on the field in the Asian circuit played under him.
Without stopping there, he displayed his administrative skills when he went onto become the President of SLRFU and heading the regional body Asian Rugby Football Union in 2006.
He also had a stint in New Zealand where he played for Ravense Bourne Sports Club in the Premier League and also played in Wales for Ebb Bale Province. In 1997 he made Kandy and the country proud by leading the Asian Barbarians invitation team.
The Barbarians comprised players from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The other players who were selected were Thushara Jayalath of Havelocks SC and Asoka Jayasena of Kandy SC.
He became the first Sri Lankan to lead the Asian Barbarians. In the first game against Hong Kong Under 24, which had top class players. He led them from the front and was able to beat them 46 points to 35.
Then in the main game, they met the Hong Kong Dragons where again the Barbarians won 26 points to nil.
A warrior who played the game without fear looked his opponents in the eye and never took a step back no matter what was unfolding in front of him. During his days he tackled hard and ran like a charging bull,. He was considered as one of the finest players of his generation.
Today he is the CEO of the SLBSA, the governing body of Baseball, a sport which is gaining momentum in Asia and works indefatigably to raise the standard of the game. Last year Sri Lanka Baseball team defeated the top seeded Pakistan team at the West Asia Tournament, which was a tremendous achievement by them with limited resources.
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