Rohan Dissanayake still plays netball at the age of 68-by Dhammika Ratnaweera
Source:Dailynews
Age is not a barrier to take part in sports and a good example is Rohan Dissanayake the 68 year old sportsman who is still playing Netball in Victoria league, Australia.
He is a product of Wesley College Colombo having being involved in Badminton as well as Netball in Sri Lanka.
He used to play Badminton and Netball though Netball was not familiar with men but Rohan used to play mixed Netball and was a very active player on the courts .He was the only International Badminton Federation and Asian Badminton certified Badminton umpire those days and at one time he was holding top posts in the Mercantile Badminton. Federation Rohan Dissanayake contacted Daily News for an exclusive interview and said” Before migrating to Australia I worked at Sri Lankan Airlines for nearly twenty years .I was a very active worker at Sri Lankan Airlines those days. At Sri Lankan Airlines I was instrumental in organising a mixed netball team to participate at the Mercantile mixed netball championships.
I was also the captain of the Sri Lankan Airlines team and was well supported by my team mates. Actually I won the netball king award twice and that was a historic occasion in my life . I played as Goal Shoot (GS) and up to date I am very keen to play as Goal Shoot.
When I was in Sri Lanka I was the only IBF and ABC certified badminton umpire. I was the first ever Sri Lankan to receive the IBF crest and had the honour of wearing the IBF crest in my blazer and this was really an honour said Rohan.
Since migrating to Melbourne I continued my passion for Badminton and Netball. I was also invited to officiate at the Sydney 2000 O lympics. I umpired many Australian and overseas Badminton tournaments including the Thomas/Uber cup finals in Kuala Lumpur and the World championships in Birmingham. Those days the National shuttlers like Niroshan Wijekoon, Duminda Jayakody, Udaya Weerakoon also worked at Sri Lankan Air lines , Kaushali Dissanayake Yasintha Liyanage and Sriyani Deepika exelled in Badminton.
Actually I continued to play A Division mixed Netball here in Melbourne. I play GS and at times switch to WA. My team “Cappuccinos” won the A DivIsion championships held at the Bundoora RMIT University courts last week. TheAustralian National Netball coaches are very close to me and we supported the Sri Lankan Netball team Due to my love and passion for my country I still support Sri Lanka Netball. I was able to provide much support for the Sri Lankan Netball team at the recently concluded Asian Championships at which we emerged winners mainly because of my good friend Sri Lankan Goal Shooter Tharjini Sivalingam said Dissanayake.
I was strongly supported by a local youtube TV channel “Vishwavahini”. Our former Consul General Bandula Dissanayake wholeheartedly supported me in every way. His youtube TV channel interviewed both Tharjini Sivalingam and me in his ‘Sporting Live’ programme and it’s a great honour to me.
Actually. Bandula Dissanayake, Asoka Silva, Jeffrey Mather and myself were able to fund Tharjini’s ticket from Melbourne to Singapore to represent our motherland at the Asia Cup due to the financial hardships prevailing in Sri Lanka and at the request of Sri Lankan Netball coach.
She called me and messaged me many times requesting our support.Even the Sports Ministry or the Sri Lanka Netball Federation had not come forward to give their support and we were keen to support Tharjani Rohan Dissanayake the keen sports promoter said Bandula Dissanayake also introduced me to Malal Athauda who organised 16 pairs of “netburner” official Australian netball shoes for our team and officials. I am truly grateful to Bandula Dissanayake whom I have known and worked with during my time as Sri Lankan Airlines manager in Melbourne for nearly 20 years He introduced me to Asoka Silva and Malal Athauda without whose support and coordination I would not have been able to help our Sri Lankan Netball team.
Already we have invited Sri Lanka team for one month training in Melbourne at our club which is coached by Australian leading Netball coaches. I think if we can get that training for Sri Lanka team it will definitely help the Sri Lanka Netball players before next years world cup in South Africa .The discussion between Sri Lanka Netball Federation still not finalized and we are expecting a good response from them said Rohan Dissanayake
Sri Lankans in Melbourne always work closely and they are keen to promote Sri Lanka sport. We have a chance to support .Sri Lanka cricket team for T20 world cup said Rohan Dissanayake.
