Gladiators clinch Piyatissa Samarakoon trophy

Gladiators soccer team emerged champions beating Red Devils Soccer team in the final by 6 goals to 2 in the Piyatissa Samarakoon Memorial Seven-a-Side Soccer Tournament held at the Lewella Municipal Grounds recently.

This annual tournament was organized by the Nawalanka SC for the 3rd year in succession. A former old boy of Dharmaraja College, Kandy, G.S.Piyatisa Samarakoon was a soccer captain of the college. After leaving school he joined Madyama Lanka and continued soccer until he was selected to represent Sri Lanka in mid seventies and his contemporaries were Mahinda Aluwihare, Ratnapala Aluwihare, P.D.Sirisena to name a few. After that he migrated to Sweden.

He started coaching soccer in Sweden and when he came to Sri Lanka on holiday he enjoyed coaching Sri Lankan youth in Kandy.

He may be the shortest person to represent Sri Lanka at 5 ft. 3 inches.

Piyatissa was in Sweden for more than three decades as a soccer coach and he passed away in 2015.

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