Recently, I had the honour of being invited to a simple function to mark Ranjan Fernando’s, 50 years in the game of Carrom. It was a gathering of his former Carrom partners and students who had reached national level.
Though I am not a Carrom player, I was a beneficiary of his free coaching of Table Tennis at the Moratuwa YMCA in the late 1960s. Coupled with my long term association with Ranjan as a great sportsman from Moratuwa, I wish to share with the readers a few of his milestones in sports that came to light at the function.
Being educated at Moratu Vidyalaya, Ranjan represented his school first eleven in cricket (Opening Batsman) and soccer. The foundation to his prodigious career in Carrom was laid in 1961 at Lakshapathiya Boys’ Club in Moratuwa where ‘Aunty Millie’ was his first coach and mentor. In 1963, he joined Dominic Savio Club at Kadalana and the YMCA Moratuwa which later became a household name for producing National level Carrom, Basketball and Table Tennis players.
The YMCA provided a fertile ground for Ranjan to develop and exhibit his all-round sports capabilities. As a result, in the early1970’s Ranjan, teamed up with veteran players like Ranjan Rodrigo, Lalith Weerasuriya and BNR Mendis representing YMCA Moratuwa and emerged champions in the All Island ‘B’ Division Mercantile Table Tennis Championships.
Similarly, in1977, he joined Dr. Mohanlal Fernando and Anacletus Fernando to emerge as Runner-up. With his acquired prowess in Table Tennis, Ranjan was instrumental in producing two National women champions in Preethi Suwaris and Shyamalie Dias from YMCA Moratuwa.
Another trait I discovered in Ranjan is his ability to entertain his friends with an array of songs tempered with ‘Waada Baila’!
However, as the title of this write-up implies, Ranjan truly deserves the title ‘Master of Carrom’ in Sri Lanka going by his following achievements and milestones:
1969- All island Novices Champion and became Runner-up in his first attempt at National Carrom Championships.
1972- National Champion. Also, during the first Test series with India, fought against Indian National Coach Mr. Arun Deshpande in 3rd Test at Moratuwa and beat All India No.2 Jageshwar Sahu in the 4th Test at Kandy.
1977- National Champion. 1979- National Champion. 1971-1979 –Triple Crown winner in many ranked Tournaments in Sri Lanka. 1988- Vice- President of Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka.
1992-1994- Vice-President of National Selection Committee. 1996- National Carrom Coach.
1998- As National Carrom Coach, organized and conducted the first ever Carrom Tournament for schools in collaboration with the National Schools Carrom Association. 1999/2000- Authored and launched the first ever book on Carrom in Sri Lanka titled ‘Carrom Thakshanaya’.
2000 onwards- Coached, Colombo and Moratuwa Universities, Air Lanka and Sri Lanka Army.
Currently coaching at Sri Lanka Air Force, St. Peter’s College Colombo and Our Lady of Victories Convent –Moratuwa. 2 consecutive slams (Pocketing all dogs in the first attempt without giving an opportunity to the opponent) in one game. 2 Slams (within 5 shots) in one game- Three times. Finishing a game within 4 minutes. 7 slams in one tournament. 4 slams in 1972 at All India Carrom Championships in New Delhi-Allahabad.
Executed and trained a student at Sri Lanka Air Force to perform an exhibition shot of pocketing 4 dogs to the 4 pockets in one single shot in May 2019. To Ranjan’s knowledge, it has not been performed by anyone in the world so far. Using his wide and researched knowledge of the game Ranjan has conducted several seminars for school teachers, physical training instructors and sports officials island-wide. As an experienced coach Ranjan has produced a number of world class players and champions like Clarista Peter (nee Fernando), Langley and Bradley Mathiasz, Viraj Fernando (National Champions) and Nishantha Fernando (World Champion 2012) all from YMCA Moratuwa whom he groomed from their basic skills to garnering finer points of the game.
With his humble beginnings, Ranjan continues his game as a champion player and a disciplined and experienced coach. I wish my good friend Ranjan and his family good health, prosperity and happiness.
Bernard Fernando
Moratuwa
0 comments:
Post a Comment