Sujeewa - a man who reached the top in Baseball umpiring in Asia

Sujeewa Wijeyanayake, alumni of Ananda College Colombo is an individual who succeeded in exploring beyond his limits. Wijeyanayake becomes the first and only Sri Lankan to become an international umpire in baseball and he will add another feather to his cap this weekend. He will become the first Sri Lankan to serve as the Umpire Supervisor at the ongoing West Asia Baseball Cup which is being held in Lahore, Pakistan.

He was selected to lead and supervise the umpires assigned for the three-day competition by the Baseball Federation of Asia, which has 24 affiliated member countries including Sri Lanka. His experience cannot be summed up in a word or two for Wijeyanayake is a veteran umpire of closer to 1000 games at different levels.

He has officiated at over 500 games at the strong Japanese Baseball League, since 2007 at all different levels. In addition he is the first foreigner to umpire in Japan and achieve such a feat. He also became the first foreign umpire to stand in the 83rd Intercity Baseball Tournament which is being held at the Tokyo Dome and the first foreigner to officiate at the 62nd All Japan University Baseball Tournament. He also becomes the youngest plate umpire to stand in a All Japan final round game.

He also stood at the 5th World University Baseball Tournament held in Tokyo in 2010 and at the 9th AAA Baseball Championship held in Yokohama where he officiated the crucial game between Japan and Korea. In addition Wijeyanayake has umpired in the USA, Cuba, Canada, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and in his native land Sri Lanka.

"Baseball umpiring for me was a total coincident. I went to Japan and lived with my sister for higher studies. While attending studies I came across a baseball umpiring school and I joined. It was in 2006. After one year of training I was able to obtain the umpiring license and stand in games. That was my beginning," Wijeyanayake recalled.

At present he is employed as an executive at the famous Kamenoi Hotel chain. At the same time Wijeyanayake acts as the mediator of Sri Lanka Baseball Association and their Japanese counterparts. He was instrumental in raising Rs. 8.5 million as funds from Japan to construct Sri Lanka's first baseball facility in Diyagama, Homagama. His support for local baseball continues in other forms.

"Last month I was assigned by the Baseball Federation of Asian to conduct a two-day umpires' workshop and I chose our facility in Homagama for it. The workshop attracted over 40 pariticipants from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Iran and Nepal and a special delegate from Japan. To get Sri Lanka to host this programme, the officials and the president of Sri Lanka Baseball Association took a great effort and the feedback we received was overwhelming. I'm sure there will be more programmes like these coming into Sri Lanka in the future and through that I'm looking at obtaining more help from the international community, especially Japan, who are willing to assist Sri Lanka," he stated.

Wijeyanayake who will be busy at this very moment in Lahore, Pakistan further said he has more plans in store to help Sri Lanka baseball prosper. Among them are a special training workshop conducted by professional baseball coaches for Sri Lankans who wish to pursue a career in coaching. Additionally he is trying to arrange assistance from Japan to complete the playing facility at Homagama so his dream of conducting an Asian Baseball Championship could become a reality in the near future.