Unique Double Celebrations at Padang Complex
The year 2022 is going to be a momentous and unique one for two of the foremost Malay institutions in Sri Lanka namely the Colombo Malay Cricket Club (CMCC) and Sri Lanka Malay Association (SLMA) as they will celebrate the 150th and 100th Anniversary of the two institutions respectively in early March.
The CMCC is the oldest cricket club in Sri Lanka which was formed in 1872 and since then has been in the forefront of sports activities in the island like cricket, hockey, netball badminton and recently Sepak Takraw to name a few while on the other hand the SLMA which was formed in 1922 has been in the forefront of supporting the less privileged specially during the occurrence of natural disasters in providing relief to the victims.
The CMCC has finalised arrangements to organise a series of sports activities which will kick off with the First Day Cover to mark the 150th Annivessary scheduled to be held on March 19 which will be followed by a cricket encounter between the CMCC and Sri Lanka Cricket Board President’s XI.
The highlight of the celebrations will be a commemorative Charity Dinner on March 26 where the keynote speaker will be Sri Lanka’s cricket legend and former Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Kumar Sangakkara said Rizwan Badoordeen, the President of CMCC at a press conference held at the Padang Complex auditorium.
Rinaldin Rahman CMCC Club Captain briefing the media stated, “We have lined up a host of sports activities and said that the main objective of organising a Cricket Charity is to raise funds to purchase cricket equipment to junior and senior cricket teams and we have identified two rural schools in the island and as a leading cricket club in the island it’s our duty to support the less privileged schools, to encourage the school cricket playing fraternity”.
The sports activities proper will start off in May with the Invitation Six a Side cricket tournament and ten Tier A clubs will be invited to foster goodwill and camaraderie among top clubs like SSC, NCC, Bloomfield and CCC and we look forward to see some of the national players in action.
Following the cricket tournament the badminton tournament is lined up to be held in June and this will be conducted at the Sugathadasa Stadium which will be an open event for men and women in different age groups with attractive prizes awaiting the winners.
This will be followed by the Walk of the Month and the netball tournament to be conducted in July. The Walk will begin from Padang where a carnival type of atmosphere with Papare music in attendance along with decorated vehicles and after the completion of the walk we have planned to hold a Tag Rugby tournament.
The netball tournament will be a unique one and the play will be controlled by the whistle of the Master Referee whilst matches are being played concurrently on different courts. “A tournament of this nature has only been conducted in Singapore and we conducted a tournament two years ago which ended in success” said Rinaldin.
The Open Sepak Takraw tournament, a sport is of Malaysian origin and which was introduced by the CMCC, is slotted to be held in August. The strenuous sport which requires football and gymnastic skills is now very popular in the services where it has been incorporated as a fitness programme.
The sports activities will come to an end with the 7 a side hockey carnival also in August where eight teams will be in action. The CMCC has a rich history in the sport of hockey having produced national players and also is the oldest hockey club affiliated to the Colombo Hockey Association.
Meanwhile the SLMA too will be conducting events starting from January 22 which will be the Centenary Commemoration launch of the First Day Cover.
This will be followed by the ‘Pasar Malang’ a hawker street styled Malay food festival coupled by Malay style cultural show in July.
A ‘Symposium’ in the month of September where papers will be presented on the contributions made to the nation which will be followed by the ‘Malay Rally’ in October and the Heroes day in November in respect of fallen Malay heroes who all have sacrificed to protect the country.