Newcomers Police, Puttalam, Sepaktakraw teams dominate ‘Nationals’
The Sepaktakraw Nationals 2017 conducted by the Amateur Sepaktakraw Association of Sri Lanka, and held on November 18 and 19 at the Indoor Sports Complex of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo – 10, saw an increase of both Men and Women teams from the Clubs , Associations, and Schools participating and vying for plums in the two events namely, the Regu Event and the Double Event , which created immense pressure on the organising Committee led by Jaldin and his team who handled the situation with great aplomb .
The competing Teams were all focused and competitive throughout the two days of keenly contested matches and a satisfactory level of skills were displayed by many teams who fought tooth and nail to get the better of the opponents . Due to the increase number of teams this year three sepaktakraw courts were installed and the Organizing Committee of the Association were really tested to the hilt to provide round the clock availability of technical staff to complete all matches as per schedule .
The Organising Committee headed by Muhalireen Jaldin,assisted by Fazir Ousmand and M.N Asmone did an excellent job under constant pressure. The Technical and Referees Committees were ably handled by ASTAF Referees T. Zahiran Hajireen and T.P Hajireen ably assisted by another ASTAF Referee JAP, Siriwardena, and national Referees Bashini Kariyawasam, Lt cmndr. Janaka Pinto Of the Sri Lanka Navy, and Police-women Referees Harshini Nanayakkara , Thissari , and Sashmitha. Co-ordinating and interacting between these Committees was Chareendra De Silwa the Competition Manager and also an ASTAF Referee . The transparent and efficient manner the Committees functioned resulted in fair-play and there were no official protest from any participating teams during the competition or afterwards.
The person behind the success of this years’ nationals like in all previous nationals was none other than the Doyen of Sepaktakraw, live-wire and President of the Association Nizam Hajireen who was compelled to bear the brunt of raising funds in the absence of meaningful contributions from other sources and led from the front giving leadership to all and sundry to fulfill given targets on time and maintaining round the clock supervision of all actors in the organisation.
The competition commenced with an address of welcome from the president of the Association The first day saw the teams competing fiercely in the Doubleevent and finally the Police, Army, Uva, Nawalapitiya, and Puttalam reached the quarter-final stage. The Police, Puttalam, and Nawalapitiya fielded 4 teams each for the Double and Regu Events in the men and Women category respectively. After many close shaves the Police ‘ C ‘ team and Army team reached the finals in the Doubles Event for men and after a close encounter the Police “C “team won by two sets to one. In the women category of the Doubles Event Final it was Police ‘ A ‘ vs Police ‘ D ‘ and the Police ‘ A ‘ team emerged victorious . However it was not an easy passage for the Police teams to reach the Finals as the School teams from Trincomalee, Pinnawela, and Baddewela offered stiff resistance to the ultimate winners in the quarterfinal stages.
In the Regu Event for Men, newcomers Puttalam ‘ A ‘ displaying tremendous speed of movement and courage overcame Uva ‘ A ‘ whose team comprised of yesteryear national players and veterans by two sets to one, thus demonstrating that the youth should get more exposure and opportunity to not only play sepaktakraw but also to be provided with international exposure so that mentally and skillfully they could be moulded to serve the National team for a considerable length of time with a development squad also standing-by .
In the women category it was Police all the way, and after overcoming stiff resistance from the School teams, the Police ‘A’ and Police ‘ D’ reached the final and emerged Champions and Runners-up respectively. Incidentally the Police team won the Championship last year too.
It was admirable and refreshing to learn from players , and officials, that all School Teams, the Police and Army teams, and Club players were all trained by the President of the Association Nizam Hajireen who is an Internationally qualified Technical Expert. However when questioned about the future plan and progress of the current crop of players, he lamented that although the momentum should be kept going without delay, the total absence of resources with the Association continuity of programs are all stalled until when personal funds are available to re-start at some locations the programmes on a limited scale.