14TH COL. HENRY STEELE OLCOTT CRICKET TOURNAMENT BEGINS ON NOVEMBER 30

Col. Henry Steele Olcott Schools Old Boys and Present Boys Annual Cricket Tournament will take place on November 30 to December 2, 2013 at Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy with Dharmaraja College as hosts. The event will be organized by Col. Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Sports Foundation.

Ever since a few giants in the cricket field namely first ever Sri Lankan Cricket Captain from Nalanda, Bandula Warnapura, Palitha Gunasekera of Ananda (more popular as a pioneer in Women’s Cricket in Sri Lanka) and Jayantha Seneviratne another Nalandian who played for the national side during the mid seventies made a proposal in 1997 by inviting other six schools to sit and discuss at the Bloomfield Pavilion to conduct this tournament and in 1999 the tournament took off with a bang. The inaugural Tournament won by Maliyadeva gave the organizers a big boost in encouraging the rest of the schools, Daharmaraja, Dharmapala, Mahinda, Dharmasoka and Rahula to participate in this prestigious tournament to grow from strength to strength ev- ery year. At this year’s AGM, the foundation has appointed a Media Coordinator to for more exposure.

Warnapura , who currently is hard at work for Asia Cricket Council as Development Manager is The Patron and has been at the top extending productive advice to the Charter Members of the foundation to the growth of conducting tournaments every year. Within the 14 years of success , CHSOMSF has been hosting the tournaments with an Opening Ceremony, The Schools’ Six a Side tournament, Old Boys 12 Overs Tournament followed by a Gala Dinner on day 1 , conclusion of the rest of the matches on day 2 with the Awards Distribution. The coveted tournament many years ago struggled to get off the ground but the foundation glued to their strategies and has continued the tournament with sponsors and live coverage on Television Channels for many years.

CHSOMSF will in the future add glamour to this tournament by introducing the Girls’ Schools (6 schools have been identified so far) from next year in Kurunegala where Maliyadeva will host the event. Since there had been, according to President Palitha Gunasekera, there were 37 girls schools participated in a recently concluded tournament with exception of participation from Kandy and Kurunegala. The foundation therefore has identified the importance of inviting these 6 girls schools to participate.

How popular the Col. Henry Steele Olcott Tournament has gained recognition amongst old boys employed oversees , the first ever such tournament was organized in the United Arab Emirates in 2011 and will take wings to other countries. CHSOMSF are now working on strategies to take the game oversees and encourage the old boys in such countries to follow suit. On 28th September this year Ex Cos of Olcott schools OBAs and PPAs successfully concluded a six a side softball tournament for men and women and gave away 5 cash prizes of Rs 100,000 each to winners and all families attended in large numbers.

However, this time out, Dharmaraja will add more colour and glamour to the tournament with many additional activities for children and Sports Catering Culture for the first time. There will be round the clock food service for players and visitors with a five star hotel in Kandy doing the catering. CSN’s media sponsorship will break the sound barrier for all such tournaments inviting more spectator participation notably the old boys’ groups. Olcott Sports Mememorabelia will be available to raise more funds for respective schools.