Leelananda and Rohan for WC Coaching Course

Two senior hockey coaches namely Leelananda Ittapana and Rohan Dissanayake have been selected by the International Hockey Federation to attend the FIH World Cup Coaching Course which is being held in New Delhi from March 5 to 11.

This High Performance Coaching Course will coincide with the Hero Honda World Cup. The Top Master Coaches and world renowned experts will conduct this World Cup Coaching Course.

In addition to the main conductors they have invited other master coaches and the following top class coaches of the world cup participating teams to make individual presentations during the course.

Jose Brasa Head of India, Paul Lissik former National Coach of Germany, Terry Walsh former head coach of Malaysia, Netherlands and Australia, Tayaab Ikram FIH Master Coach, Shane McLeod-Head Coach of New Zealand, Segio Vigil-Head Coach of Argentina, Markus Weise-Head Coach of Germany, Bert Bunnik FIH Master Coach, Michel Van den Heuvel-Head Coach of Netherlands and Herman Kruis-FIH Master Coach, Grade.

As per the required qualification that the selected coaches should be coaches who have top level qualifications in their respective country and those who have handled National level teams, the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation quite rightly recommended the most suitable and the most qualified coaches to attend this prestigious course and the International Hockey Federation selected Ittapana and Rohan for this course.

Ittapana has earlier participated in the FIH High Performance Coaching Courses held in South Africa in 2003, Pakistan in 2004 and Netherlands in 2005.

After assessing his progress during the previous programmes he is now included in the Master Data Base of Coaches by the FIH.

Ittapana was the Assistant Coach Sri Lanka Men’s Team 2002 - AHF - Hong Kong Coach Sri Lanka Women’s Team 2004 - Asia Cup - New Delhi, Head Coach of Sri Lanka Under 21 Team 2008 - AHF Cup Oman, Head Coach of Sri Lanka Under 18 Team 2009 - Asia Cup in Myanmar, Assistant coach of the Sri Lanka men’s team for 2006 SAF Games held in Sri Lanka that won the bronze medal.

At present he is the Head Coach of the Mercantile Hockey Association, coach of the Old Anandians Sports Club, Ananda College, Musaeus College and Wesley College.

Rohan Dissanayake is another senior coach who has earlier participated at High Performance Coaching course in South Africa 1995, Regional Coaching Course in Oman and Five Continent Hockey Classic coaching course in Malaysia in 1990.

Rohan obtained the highest grade for coaching in Sri Lanka when he was graded as National Grade A Coach at the Olympic Solidarity Course Held in Sri Lanka in 1994.

He was the Assistant coach of the Sri Lanka Under 21 Boys and Girls Teams in 1992 and was the coach of the Under 21 team that took part in the Asia Cup in 1996.

Rohan was also the National Assistant Coach (Men’s Team) in 1995 and 1996 and was the Sri Lanka women’s team coach from 1995 to 1998.

At Present He is the Coach of Western Province women’s team, Colombo Hockey Association Team, Coach of the Commercial Bank, Dialog Telekom, University of Colombo, Colts Cricket Club, Royal College and Visakha Vidyalaya and Royal College Hockey Club.

An Old Peterite, Rohan excelled as a player captaining the School 1st Xi team and the Colombo District Team and represented the Sri Lanka Schools Team. Presently he is a Vice President of the Colombo Hockey Association.