Sports in Kandy at a standstill | Daily News

Sports in Kandy at a standstill

The outbreak of the corona virus, has affected sporting events,  in Kandy  which have been cancelled or postponed. Kandy’s sporting fraternity hopes to come back after things get back to normal..  Kandy District has established a proud record of producing some of the top sports  men and women in Sri Lanka 

Cricket and rugby are the most popular sports and crowd pulling games. This is because of the players who give of their best. And in early days there were top sports promoters involved in sports.

Today the only club out of Colombo playing the game of rugby is Kandy SC, thanks to the former office bearers who did their best with a good background of the game. in the good old days Kandy Lake Club., Kandy RFC, Peradeniya University, Kandy Youth SC and Old Trinitians SC too gave a big hand for rugby. Football, the common man’s game, is continuing to be in the doldrums. Sad to say in the last ten years the game of football in Kandy at club level has taken a back seat and the AGM has not been held for years.  

Hockey at school and club level is on a good footing, with most of the schools, especially girls’ schools dominating the game. Kandy District Hockey Association has come back to the game and will be organizing the inter club men’s league tournament with ten clubs. Billiards and snooker however has taken a nose dive with hardly any activity Only Mahanuwara YMBA gives the cue to the players.  

Basketball has come back to its former position. Table tennis and badminton too are in good shape with participation at every level being more than satisfactory.Volleyball too is at a low ebb. In recent times Kandy has produced some top athletes but the eye-opener has been swimming where Kandy has produced some top class swimmers among both men and women, especially in schools.  

Although Kandy has several sports bodies they need to get actively involved at the highest level. Kandy urgently is in need of proper ground facilities for cricket, rugby football, hockey and athletics.