Yakoob Ali an excellent hooker and prop forward-Upananda Jayasundera

Mohammed Yakoob Ali with the Trophies he won. ( Picture by Upananda Jayasundera-Kandy Sports Spl.corr)

Mohamed Yakoob Ali, an old boy of St.Anthony’s College, Katugastota started playing rugby when he was nine years old and learnt the basics of the game under the coaching of Mohammed Faizal. Yakoob Ali’s under 13 Coach was Nihal Gunaratne, Under 16 Coach was Tikiri Dissanayake and Under 18 Rugby Coach was Priyantha Gunaratne. His father, Ebrahim Mohammed Ali who captained the St.Anthony’s Rugby team in 1976, joined the Kandy SC under Jadi Dissanayake and two of his other team mates were Irwin Howie and Iswan Omar. Ebrahim Mohammed Ali played for Kandy SC as flanker and prop forward and in later years played for Sri Lanka.

Mohamed Yakoob Ali’s coaches at the School Under 20 team were Theo Serafi, Athula Wijewickrema and Priyantha Gunaratne. He was the Vice Captain of the School First Fifteen in 2012 and he was appointed as the Captain of the First Fifteen Rugby team in the year 2013. Under his captaincy Antonians won against Royal College after eight years and they won against Isipathana College and beat Science College, Mount. Lavinia, two strong rugby teams. He played as Hooker and Prop forward and for his outstanding performances he was selected to the Junior National Rugby Team in 2013 and in the same year he received Junior national rugby colours. He joined the Up-Country Lions in 2013 and in the year 2014 joined Kandy Sports Club and continued playing to date as a hooker and prop-forward.

Mohamed Yakoob Ali is happy that the Kandy SC won the Clifford Cup League and Knock-out Rugby Titles during this period and some of his team mates were Weeraratne Brothers(Roshan & Gayan), Maduranga Attanagoda, Saliya Kumara, and Damith Dissanayake to name a few. He was selected to the National Rugby Team under Omalka Gunaratne for the Five Nation Rugby tournament held in Malaysia and Taiwan representing Sri Lanka. His Kandy SC coaches were Fazil Marija. Sean Wijesinghe. Yohan Taylor and Viraj Prasantha He is a Post Graduate Diploma holder in Marketing and holding a Masters Degree at the London Metropolitan Campus and currently employed as a Financial and Planning Manager and he is an IRB Level One Rugby Coach and presently coaching at Kandy Rugby Academy.