Awards ceremony of Ravi Punchihewa Cricket Academy

S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen Kandy Sports correspondent

The third annual Awards ceremony of the Ravi Punchihewa Cricket Academy, Matale will be held at the Aladdin Pool Complex in Matale today - Wednesday November 12th commencing at 4 p.m.

Minister of Urban Development and President of the Matale District Cricket Association Rohana Dissanayake will be the Chief Guest.

Other special guests gracing the occasion will be Central Province Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine and Vice President of Matale DCA Champika Wijeratne, Vijitha Bandara - Manager Ceylinco Insurance, P.S. Dharmakeerthi - Managing Director Matale International School, Z. Fawmy, Principal Greenwood International School, Matale, A.M. Hannifa, Principal Royal English School, Ravi Punchihewa, MD Ravi Punchihewa Cricket Academy and W. Walisundera, General Secretary Matale district CA.

This award ceremony has been organised with the objective of recognising the talents and the performances of young cricketers from the ages of 7 to 17 and over 300 certificates and trophies will be distributed to young cricketers, Ravi Punchihewa Cricket Academy which is biggest cricket academy in the Central Province if not outside Colombo started three years with 30 cricketers and it has on roll over 300 cricketers.

This academy has not only identified the talents of cricketers at a very young age but also conducted cricket tournaments among them.

The high point of their short history was when they toured India in the last two years and won championship titles against similar Institutions in Mumbai and Bangalore.

This awards ceremony will also see special awards being made to cricketers who made these trips.

Their first championship title was when they won the Inter Academy championship in Mumbai in 2006 and later won the R.N.S. Inter Academy championship in Bangalore in 2007.

The Managing Director of the RPCA Ravi Punchihewa said that his efforts have borne results as two of his cricketers from non cricket playing schools namely S. Priyadharshana (Under 17) and Haseem Hushan (Under 15) represented the Matale District Cricket Association in the inter district cricket tournament matches.

Apart from this the skills of cricketers from other schools have been honed and they have performed well for their respective schools.

They have been taught the correct things on and off the field placing special emphasis on discipline and leadership. In fact a special award is being presented to the 'Best Disciplined Cricketer' from each age group.