Jaffna Centralities honour Kanaganayagam
With inter-house cricket carnival:
Centralites Sports Club, Jaffna is conducting an Inter-House
Twenty-Twenty Cricket Carnival at Jaffna Central College in memory of
Jeya Kanaganayagam, a cricketing legend of Jaffna Central.
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Kanaganayagam |
This tournament started on October 6 and the matches are being played
on a knock out basis. The Final match will be played on October 10
(today) at Jaffna Central College grounds. Jeya Kanaganayagam, popularly
called as Kanags, captained Jaffna Central First Eleven cricket team in
1962. He was a very stylish left-hand batsman and a mesmerizing leg spin
bowler. He had the unique distinction of being both the captain of the
Jaffna Schools Eleven Cricket Team and a playing member of then Ceylon
(Sri Lankan) Schools Eleven cricket team.
Whilst in Colombo he played for the Tamil Union Cricket Team and the
Burgher Recreation Cricket Team. From 1970 - 73 he represented the
Singapore National team.
His love for his college made him return to Jaffna and serve as a
coach for Jaffna Central cricket teams. His outstanding coaching ability
saw the emergence of young Centralites into big time cricket. R.
Naguleswaran, who represented the Sri Lankan under 25 cricket team and
the Board President's Eleven, was one of his protegees. Due to the
prevailing situation in the country at that time he was compelled him to
move to the Middle East and from there he migrated to Canada.
There he played cricket for 'The Centurions' of Toronto from 1990 and
there too he was busy coaching young cricketers. It is widely held that
Jeya Kanaganayagam was instrumental in setting up the Jaffna Central
College Old Boys' Association in Canada.'
There is no doubt that the Centralites all over the world will be
happy to know that Jeya Kanaganayagam has been honoured by the
Centralites Sports Club in a very fitting manner.
This tournament is fully sponsored by the Jaffna Central College Old
Boys' Association of France and Mr. K. Muthukumar, a prominent member of
OBA France, is presently in Jaffna for this tournament. |
