Rajeev shone as a number eight for Lanka-by Althaf Nawaz

Source:Dailynews

In the game of rugby some players who had an illustrious career were influenced by their fathers in taking up the game. This is mainly due to the father being a former player or a rugby enthusiast. Rajeev Ganapathy was

one of the players who was motivated and encouraged by his father being an ex-player, later ended up playing for school, club and for the country as a profound player.

Rajeev was born in 1980 in Kandy city and his father was late Mohan Ganapathy who represented Trinity College Rugby in the year 1971/72 and was a part of the ‘Bradby’ winning team in 1972 obtaining Rugby Colours at school. He represented and captained Dickoya Maskeliya Cricket Club. He worked as a planter with Kelani Valley Plantations. His mother Usha worked as a Nutritionist for Ceylon Biscuits Limited. He has one sibling, Karthiga.

Rajeev was enrolled at Trinity College, Kandy in the primary school in 1985 and went on to complete his academic career in 1999. By birth he had a hefty build and had a liking to handle the oval shaped ball. With his father’s influence, he embarked on his rugby career when he was mere nine years old. He was also highly impressed over another fellow schoolmate Haris Omar, who ultimately became his role model at school, which was another encouraging factor enabling him to take up the game of rugby.

He locked horns in multiple positions in the ‘Pack’ starting as a Hooker then binding in as a second row forward in the under-17 team finally occupying the flanker and number-8 berths at the first XV team at

college. He captained the under-13 rugby team and surged ahead to be a regular member of the college under-15, 17, second XV and first XV teams. He was a part of the ‘Bradby’ winning team in 1999 captained by Ravi Wickramasiri. He had the opportunity of captaining the first XV team against Isipathana in the year 1999, which they went down fighting 22-25 after their regular skipper was injured. He won the college rugby colours in 1998 receiving the same in the 1999 season. He was guided and coached by some of Sri Lanka’s best during his tenure at school which included the likes of Asoka Weerasinghe, who was his junior coach who taught the basics of the game. The others were Anil Jayasinghe, Alex Lazarus and late Quentin Israel at first XV level while Ikram Odayar was their motivator. They also obtained the services of the late legendary coach George Simpkin for a three-week training programme at Trinity which further boosted his career in 1998.

Whilst undergoing a course in BA in Business Administration at ITS, he played in the Inter University rugby where the practices were held at Havelock Sports Club. Another former Trinitian, Ana Wijeratne monitoring

his playing skills convinced his father to let him take up club rugby at Havelocks. With his influence, he donned the Havies jersey in 2000 under the captaincy of Nishantha Chanaka (Alex) and was fortunate to be a part of a power-packed team of top rugby players such as Sudath Sampath, Leonard de Silva, Shafi Hassan, Nilantha Bopearachchi and Sanjeewa Jayasinghe few to be named. Ana Sarnapala and Chaminda Rupasinghe (Diga) had played a pivotal role in his ten-year career at the Park Club. He finally captained them in the year 2005 coached by Tony Amit. He was extended a helping hand by the former club President’s and some past players there including Michael Jayasekera, Royce Samaratunga, Roshan Deen, Vimal Senanayake. He crossed over to represent CH and FC in the 2006/7 season. It was Shammi Silva who was the president of CH in 2007, who granted him then necessary permission to cross over to CH and FC during mid-season in 2007.

He was called for National duty in 2001 and competed until 2005. He made his debut with the Sri Lankan team in a tournament against Malaysia and Thailand captained by Asoka Jayasena which they won beating both sides. During his five-year stint he, played as a flanker and number-8 and had the opportunity of playing under several captains including Asoka Jayasena, Pradeep Basnayake, Sajith Mallikarachchi and Viraj Prasantha. His coaches were retired senior DIG Nimal Lewke, C.P. Abeygunawardana, Tony Amit and George Simpkin who played a big hand in transforming Sri Lanka rugby to reach greater levels. He also went on to captain the Western Province team in 2005 against the mighty Wanderers team.

He started working for MAS holdings from 2004 no sooner he completed his Degree in Business Administration. During his tenure as a player, he also coached S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia under-12 team from 2005 to 2008.

He was also a part of the scrummage rugby committee from 2004 to 2017. He is currently working for Silueta Private Limited a part of MAS Holdings as Deputy General Manager Business Development, for Sports protective garments using a patented technology.

His wife is Radika Obeyesekere and two children are Rahul and Rishi.