Trinity Lion Pradeep the cager turned ruggerite-by Althaf Nawaz

Pradeep Basnayake

Source:Dailynews

To become an exemplary person in life one should possess a sound academic background with unique sporting skills, where the school plays a pivotal role in achieving these goals. Trinity College, Kandy located in the hill capital is a leading school which has produced

several professionals who have blossomed out in the field of education and sports.

Pradeep Sanjaya Basnayake is one of them who has a prolific academic background followed by his skills in the field of sports which made him the cynosure of all eyes locally and Internationally.

He was born in Kandy and is well known as ‘BASSA’ in the community. His father is Seneviratne Bandara a lawyer by profession while mother Kalyani Kumarihamy was a nurse. Rasika is his younger sister. Basnayake enrolled at Trinity College and completed his academic studies from primary to higher education. He has a towering frame and was very enthusiastic in engaging in sports from his childhood. With his build, he chose to play basketball at the age of 14 years and took part in the college under-15,17 and 19 teams, where he went on to captain them in the under-17 and 19 age categories. While playing for school, he played for the Sri Lanka Basketball Team and the National Youth Team, which was a unique achievement,and won the college and Sri Lanka Schools colours for Basketball. His coaches were D.S. Pingamage and Ajith Kuruppu, who were instrumental in making him a quality player. He was actively involved in various sporting disciplines including rugby. The very next day after the inter-house meet,he was included in the college under-15 rugby team, which was the stepping

stone in his rugby career. From then until he hung up his boots, he locked horns as a ‘lock forward’ in the pack, which earned him the name ‘Line out Artist.’ He represented Trinity College in rugby from under-15 to the first XV team until he left school. He was a prominent player in the college first XV team in 1994/1995 season. The 1994 team was

led by Muntazir Rally while the next season was led by the dynamic Haris Omar. In 1995, he toured Chinese Taipei with the Junior National Rugby team for the Junior Asiad. For his belligerent performance at school, he was awarded the college colours for Rugby and the coveted Rugby Lion in 1995.

His rugby coaches were Shamil Mohamed (under15) and Franklyn Jacobs another Rugby Lion who represented the champion Trinity team in 1956. The first XV team was coached by Janaka Kiridena, the1978 Trinity captain and Lohan Ratwatte another Rugby Lion. He was fortunate to obtain the services of one of the distinguished old boys and an elite coach Quentin Israel in his final year in college rugby.

He then joined his home town team Kandy Sports Club soon after his school career, from 1996 and donned their jersey till 2005. He also captained Kandy SC in 2002 where they became ‘Triple Champs’. During his peak, in 1997, he got the National call as he continued his tenure as a player until 2004, where he was entrusted with the captaincy of the National team. After playing

the 2005 season for Kandy, he finally decided to quit his illustrious rugby career. He led the National Rugby Team in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Retired senior DIG Nimal Lewke, C. P. Abeygunawardena, Ana Saranapala, S. W. Chang and late George Simpkin were his coaches at National level, who played key roles in making him a classy player.

After retiring from playing all forms of rugby, he opted to take up coaching and took over his Alma Mater first XV team in 2008 and 2009 seasons. The 2008 team won the Bradby Shield and became runners up in the schools league tournament. He also coached the Trinity under-18 teams for many years. After his coaching career, he was appointed to serve as a member of the National Selection Committee from 2011 to 2013. He is currently the President of Central Province Rugby Football Union while being a Council Member of Sri Lanka Rugby(SLR) and also occupying a

member’s post in the Executive Committee in the same establishment. He is a IRB level- two and level one certified coach in Strength and Conditioning.

He has some unblemished memories during his career which includes winning the Bradby Shield in 1995 while scoring two vital tries out of three tries scored in that match. To be able to mingle with some of his team mates and greats, whom he has played with including Harris Omar, a childhood friend. While being the members of the1995 Trinity Rugby team both of them ended up being captains of Kandy SC and National team, which was a rare feat. Playing with some great players like Priyantha Ekanayake, Asoka Jayasena, Imthi Marikkar, Indrajith Bandaranayake, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Suranga Amarasinghe (his second row partner in the school, Club and National teams.) Sajith Mallikarachchi, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Nalaka Weerakkody, Sean Wijesinghe and Fazil Marija (who made his debut for Sri Lanka under his captaincy.) The oval shaped ball game has made him humble in victory and accept defeat gracefully.

He was very thankful to his parents for giving him the freedom to excel in sports, to all coaches who guided him throughout his career and Malik Samarawickrama for being the towering strength of Kandy rugby.

Currently he works as Deputy General Manager at Kanrich Finance. He started his employment career at HSBC, then moved to Sampath Bank, DFCC and Global Payments HSBC while obtaining several professional qualifications. His wife is Sangeetha, a well-known actress in the country and has a son Jayageeth.