Kobbekaduwa excelled in sport
Upananda JAYASUNDERA- Kandy sports special corr
Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, the Governor of Central Province had his primary
education at Trinity College, Kandy where he played cricket for under
11, 12, 14 teams and captained the under 16 cricket team.
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Tikiri Kobbekaduwa |
He also played a few 1st XI cricket matches in the 3rd term fixtures
under Rohan Perera, the then cricket captain of Trinity College and his
contemporaries were J D Weerasinghe, Susantha Ratnayake and Cantrell, a
West Indian.
He played under 17 rugby for Trinity as a hooker and as a wing
forward. He joined St Sylvester's College, Kandy in 1974 for his higher
studies where he excelled in cricket and in the year 1975 he played
under Isaak Sahabdeen of St Sylvester's.
There his contemporaries were Roland Perera, Jayantha Keragala and
Duncan Vandott to name a few.
In his 2nd year at St Sylvester's he really showed his class when he
played under Duncan Vandott and scored 3 centuries including the 'Big
Match' against Vidyartha where he scored 111 runs.
The other 2 centuries were against Kingswood (128) and against St
Thomas' Matale (108). He scored over 800 runs in that year to become one
of the leading batsmen of the Sri Lanka Schools.
Tikiri Kobbekaduwa joined the Mercantile sector in the year 1981 as
an Executive of the Lever Brothers and rose to be the Marketing Manager
and he was working there for 15 years.
He left Lever Brothers and joined Reckitt Benckizer as a Director
(Marketing) and remained there for 2 years after which he took up
politics and contested a parliamentary seat unsuccessfully.
He was serving as a Director in the Lake House Group for sometime. A
former member of the Municipal Council and then became the Governor of
Central Province in 2005.
Tikiri Kobbekaduwa was sworn in as the Governor of Central Province
for the 2nd term on December 16, 2010.
He told the Daily News that he has requested President Mahinda
Rajapaksa to give preference to the outstanding sports personnel who
have achieved national and international status when they enter the
university. |
