Old Rajan S.U. Mendis, one of the finest sportsman produced by Dharmaraja College, Kandy in the mid-sixties had represented the school in Cricket, Soccer and Athletics and received the highest award ‘Dagoba’ for all three sports.
He was the goalkeeper of the school soccer team. Six feet, three inches tall Mendis opened bowling at school with T.B. Kehelgamuwa. Mendis captained the College cricket team in 1964 and led them to victory over Prince of Wales, Zahira, Ananda, Nalanda, Richmond and St. Anthony’s they were defeated by Trinity College, Kandy.
Mendis was a bright student who won the Gold Medal for being the ‘Best Student’
of the School in 1964. He entered the University of Peradeniya Faculty of Engineering in 1966 and continued Athletics and played Cricket, Soccer and Rugby. He started rugby in the campus and he had a safe pair of hands and he could kick 40 to 45 yards with both feet. He was selected to the university rugby team and later joined the National team in 1969. He was the second Rajan to be selected for the National rugby team after C.S. Fernando. In 1969 he was selected as the Best Sportsman of the University of Peradeniya and was elected as the President of the Sports Council.
When Mendis was the captain of the school cricket team his team mates were Ananda Jayasundera, N.K.B. Angammana, P. Mangalaratne, Harold
Ranasinghe and Upananda Jayasundera to name a few. After Mendis there were some Rajans who represented Sri Lanka in the National rugby team namely Daya Jayasundera, Hemantha Yatawara, Ajantha Samarakoon, Indrajith Bandaranayake to name a few. Mendis joined the Sri Lanka Air Force in 1971 and served till 1983 and joined Air Lanka as Manager of Production, Planning and Control. At the request of his wife he
migrated to Canada and worked as Air Worthiness Specialist in the Canadian
government for 20 years before calling it a day in August 2015. He is blessed with two children, a son and a daughter and leads a retired life in Canada.
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