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The ashes of one of the greatest educationist and sports promoters the country has produced, Srinath Kalinga Goonewardene will be interred at the family burial ground at Jawatte Kanatte (Anglican Section) at 5.30 p.m. today.

The funeral service will be conducted by former Bishop of Colombo Swinthin Fernando. The ashes of the late Goonewardene was brought to Sri Lanka by his sons Paul and Ranjith (Cholmondeley) from Norway where he died aged 80.

S.K. Goonewardene when he turned 80 on April 23.

More popularly known by his initials as 'S.K.', Goonewardene carved a name for himself as a leading sports promoter in the sixties and an educationist in the seventies.

A product of S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia where he excelled at hockey and boxing, 'S.K.' shot into prominence when as president of the Ceylon Schools Boxing Association he inaugurated the Indo-Ceylon annual boxing contest. He received praises from the then Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, Jawaharlal Nehru and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike respectively for bringing the two nations closer in sports.

Then as Colombo Football League president, 'S.K.' invited FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous to Sri Lanka for the CFL's 25th anniversary and also got down English football champion club Southampton to play a few matches in Colombo. It was rarely that the FIFA president travelled to Asia and 'S.K.' with his unusual flair was able to coax him to come to Sri Lanka. During his period as president 'S.K.' saw CFL participate in the Agha Khan tournament in India.

He further enhanced his reputation as a sports promoter when he became president of the Gymnastic Association of Sri Lanka and invited Russian and Chinese gymnastic teams to perform in Sri Lanka.

'S.K.' was also the founder president of Sri Lak Athletic Club. The name Sri Lak was derived from the first three letters of his maiden name Srinath and that of Lakshman de Alwis, a former athlete and presently the national athletics coach.

One of 'S.K.'s strong points was to promote lesser known schools to the forefront in sports. As principal of Dehiwela MMV he made them become Tarbat and Jefferson Cup athletic champions. They also excelled at rugby.

Then going over to St. Michael's Polwatte as principal he made them all-island boxing champions. That's how big an impression he created in the local sporting world. He was fondly referred to by the students as 'our father'.

People in the calibre of 'S.K.' are a rarity today because he never looked forward to gaining anything for himself in whatever tasks he undertook. He was quite happy if he had brought a smile on the face of a deserving individual. His wife Beryl and son Captain Frederick predeceased him. [S.T.]

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