ThePapare Basketball Championship (TPBC), setting the stage for the next generation of stars, will take center-field in the Sri Lankan basketball fraternity for the second consecutive year allowing twenty-eight top notch schools to compete to become the elite stars of the school’s basketball arena.
TPBC 2016 – A Recap
De La Salle College participated in the 2016 edition in Group A. Unfortunately, De La Salle College failed to set a strong foot hold in the tournament. The rest of the schools in the group; Maris Stella College, Asian International School & D.S Senanayake College defeated De La Salle College handsomely.
Key Players
Sivakumar Rukshan
Skipper for the season, Rukshan will be playing from the post and extending his services to the team. He will be supported well by his experience team-mate Ishara Piumal. Rukshan`s experience and skills in grabbing rebounds and keeping the opposition off the D will come in handy in winning the matches and advancing in the tournament. Ruskan possess a brilliant track-record as he was awarded the most valuable player awards in both U15 and U17 age categories as he commenced his basketball journey.
Photos : TPBC17 | De La Salle College – Colombo| Boys Basketball Team
The Team in a Nutshell
De La Salle College has a very young side this year, with majority junior players and just a couple seniors thus the pressure is mainly on Ishara and Rukshan. After losing five players from the previous year, team combination and positioning will be a crucial aspect that De La Salle College will be looking at for the 2017 edition. Apart from the team coordination and positioning, the team will also have to focus on increasing their fitness levels and their long range shooting, since the height advantage is not on their side.
Stepping into the ThePapare.com Basketball Championship this year their main goal is to gain the experience and exposure of playing under 19 A division for all the junior players. De La Salle College believes that it will help the team to be groomed in the years to come win a championship.
Even with the up-coming examinations for the senior players in the team, they have managed to squeeze in 5 days of practice which will increase to both morning and evening as the tournament draws closer to be better prepared for it.
Quotes
Captain of the team Sivakumar Rukshan speaking to ThePapare.com,
“We have a very young team but our plan is to give it our best and try to get the best result that we can. We’ve worked hard and there is a lot more to work on as well but I think we will be able to give the other schools a good game.”
Coach Bathiya Prabath speaking to ThePapare.com,
“It’s a very young and inexperienced team we have, this year, so my plan is to give them the exposure and experience of playing under 19 so that we can build on that in the next few years and have a very good experienced team somewhere down the line. But that’s not to say that we don’t have the potential at the moment, I think they have the ability to at least qualify into the quarter finals thanks to their ability to take shots well from anywhere.”
Team Lineup
Sivakumar Rukshan (Captain), Tharaka Perera, Mohomed Rihan, Ishara Piyumal, Malaka Madushan, Thilina Silva, Shehan Tharaka, Dave Adams, Brian Shane, Ashane Sandeepa, Prageeth Malshan, Sanjula Mayantha, Sasikumar Anos, Rumesh Davindu, Niranga Herath, Nimesh Dilrukshan.
