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by Pelham Juriansz

Ruskin Island is the venue for the inaugural Ceylinco Invitation Squash Tournament which will be held on November 23 and 24 with the Semi Finals at Air force Courts in Thummulla and the finals at the Ruskin Island Courts at Bolgoda.

This Tournament which is sponsored by Ceylinco International Realty(Pvt) Ltd and conducted by the Squash Federation will consist only of the semi finals and the finals.

There will be 14 events in different categories, namely Men's and Women's Open, Mens over 45, Mens over 35, Boys and Girls under 19, Under 17, Under 15, Under 13 and Under 11. Only the top four seeded players from each event are invited to participate in this Tournament. All matches will be the best of 3 games of 9 points each and it is important that it be emphasised that a Player can take part only in one event, but could mention a second choice.

Sanka Wijesinghe, Deputy Chairman-Ceylinco International Realty (Pvt) Ltd speaking at the Press Conference at Ruskin Island said that the Chairman and the Staff of Ceylinco were committed to performing social service and sponsoring Men and Women in the country whether at National or International level to come upto World standards.

President of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation Maj. Gen. A. K. Sooriyabandara said that it is the first time that the Squash Federation had any alliance with Ceylinco.

Oliver Guruge, Vice President - Squash Promotion Committee of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation highlighted the fact that the Court at Ruskin Island had met their expectations and come up to a very high standard and was as good as any in Sri Lanka.

"We have seen tremendous enthusiasm for this Tournament and hope that it will continue for many years" he added. Lt. Col. Tissa Jayasuriya, Vice President and Chairman-Tournament Committee outlined the Tournament rules mentioned above and said that entries could be handed over direct to him or the Secretary SLSF Cdr. Palitha Weerasinghe by 5 p.m. on November 15.

The draw will be held at 5 p.m. on November 20 at the Airforce Courts at Thummulla and will be displayed at the same place on November 21.

The top seeds for Men are Navin Samarasinghe, Janaka Suwaris, N.S. Jayashantha, Kavinda Cooray and E. Ravichandran. The Top seeds for Women are Tehani Guruge, Kushani Daluwatte, Disna Ranjani and Menusha Hettiarachchi. Prizes and trophies will be awarded to winners in each category and vouchers from leading sports shops will be given to the winners to purchase sports goods.

Oliver Guruge commented that Squash was known as a rich man's sport because there weren't many courts available and accessability to a Court was not an easy thing.

"We hope to rectify that and make more Courts available in the future. At the moment we conduct about 6 to 7 Tournaments during an year and with the help of sponsors like Ceylinco we can hold around two more Tournaments. 50 to 60% of the Squash players are from a less affluent background and I believe that Sri Lanka can achieve higher standards in the Sport since it is not a body contact sport and Asians being slightly built can succeed." concluded Oliver Guruge.

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