At one point the rugby circuit was dominated by a group of elite clubs which fed a lot of players to the national pool. With the start of a new decade the emergence of a new trend has come upon most sports be it rugby or tennis. The forces and the services have taken over the driving seat and have made a huge impact on the sport.
Even the rugby Giants ‘Kandy SC’ who have had a stronghold on local rugby was put to rest by the Sailors in two consecutive years which speaks volumes of their advancements in the local sports arena. The Monopoly which was created by most of the clubs were struck down by the forces. The secret to their success has been recruiting the cream of the crop to fill up their numbers.
Even in tennis this has been the case with a lot of top seed players signing up to make the forces team a ‘FORCE’ to be reckoned with.
The Navy Team
The navy team comprises of Current National Champion Harshana Godamanna, number 3 ranked Sankha Athukorale and Guyanga Weerasekara who was a member of the Davis Cup team. The Air force team comprises of Rajeev Rajapakse long standing member of the Davis Cup team, Number two ranked Dineshkanthan Thangarajah and Arthur Hewacottage who was a part of the Davis Cup team two years ago. Air force will be coached by K. D. Y. Pathiraja. Army has still not decided on whom they will recruit. It seems too late for the Army to recruit because the top 6 players have been recruited; and they are left with lower ranked players. Army is being coached by Jagath Welikela who is also SLTA’s wheelchair tennis coach. These players will represent their clubs at the services and inter club tournaments and are entitled to many PERCs.
The Air force Team
The players have been recruited as Cadet Officers. The air force players will undergo a short term training program at Diyathalawa like any other regular cadet officer, but their services rendered will be different to a regular cadet officer.
The major private clubs dominating the inter club scene will lose out by players of such caliber moving out from their clubs. This will prompt these clubs to promote players from lower divisions to division 1 and 2 to fill the gaps; but how worthwhile would that be. They rather keep these players in the lower divisions and win than sacrificing them at the top. Also these lower division players may not be prepared for something big very soon. So it is advisable to train them from now so that will be prepared for the next season. If lower division players of dominant clubs move up; this will create opportunities for lower divisions’ clubs to rise up too.
