Antonian Priyantha Ekanayake – double international in rugby and basketball-by Hafiz Marikar
Source:Dailynews
Priyantha Ekanayake was a top-level sportsman, in basketball, cricket and rugger, who became a top class ruggerite, . It can be said, that the best rugby forward to come out of St. Anthony’s College,Katugastota is Priyantha Ekanayake. Out of the galaxy of ruggerites produced by this school, Priyantha Ekanayake stands tall and proud, being the first Antonian to captain the Sri Lanka rugby team, and that too for a record ten consecutive years. He has led the country at four Rugby Asiads from1990 to 1996. He is a double International at rugger and basketball.
He moved to the Katugastota School from Rikilagaskanda Central, in the shadows of Dumbara Valley. He was guided in the correct way at rugby by his coach Kaluarachchi “Kalu” Perera. At the start his pet sport was basketball where he was a good point scorer and ball handler, and represented the country at the 7th Asian Basketball Championship in Seoul, Korea where he also obtained a Korean Diploma in Basketball Coaching. Later he represented the country at several tournaments.At cricket he was a fine all-rounder, where he shaped up as a good pace bowler and a good stroke player but rugby took him away from cricket and it is in rugby he earned a name and gave his best for the school, clubs and the country. He led the country both at basketball and rugby.
As a school boy he played for Kandy Sports Club and had a fresh lease of life since joining the Nittawela club From there he represented the Sri Lanka under-25 team and toured Taipei in 1985. From about this time he was an automatic choice for the National team. It was at Kandy Sports Club he polished his game as a player and earned a name at club level and later went to CH and FC in 1986 from there to CR & FC in1987, and played for Sri Lanka and Asian Barbarians, He also played for the Up-Country, Low Country, and led all the teams that he played except CH and FC.. During his playing days was rated as a top class ruggerite and became the first Katugastota school product to lead a Sri Lanka rugby team and held the Sri Lanka and Asian rugby Presidency and after his presidency a few years back was the CEO of Sri Lanka Rugby.
He was an outstanding third row forward during his days. He had an excellent record in school with his natural talent. Towering over six feet, some rugby players are different from the rest. While many have talent and form an important part of their team’s machine, only very few make the real difference when it matters most, one of them was Priyantha Ekanayake. He should be thankful to his rugby coach Kaluarachchi “Kalu” Perera for making him a good player.
He led the Nittawela club in 1993 to win the Clifford Cup.From the year 1985 to 1997 Priyantha was a regular member of the Sri Lanka team he also had a stint in New Zealand where he played for Ravense Bourne SportsClub in the Premier League and also played in Wales for Ebb Bale Province.
In1997 he made Kandy and the country proud by leading the Asian Barbarians invitation team. The Barbarians comprised players from Thailand, Singapore,Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The other players who were selected were Thushara Jayalath of Havelock SC and Asoka Jayasena of Kandy SC, but Asoka skipped the game due to Kandy Sports Club’s Cup Final.
This should be said, it was after him and his friends crossing over to Kandy SC form CR & FC in1992, that helped the club to win their first ever trophy in rugby after 42 years the Clifford Cup. It was Priyantha, who motivated the Nittawela boys to do great things, with the help of the then committee members. He gave his best for Kandy SC rugby and ended up as the Vice-President. He also coached the Kandy Sports Club side when Harris Omar led the team in 1999 and helped the club to win the inter-club sevens title for the first time by beating CR and FC by 12-5 in the final.
