Outstanding Sportsmen at FoG

The Shelton Gunasekera Memorial Swimming competition has taken place over many years at the Sports Academy in memory of FoG Founder/ Chief Trustee’s beloved late father whom this competition has been named after. This competition has been the starting point for many aspiring young swimmers from the FoG Sports Academy as the initial testing point of their skills and talents in comparison to their peers.

The event gives countless rural children and youth who have never before participated in competitive swimming to get their first feel of a swimming meet or competition, and thereby gage their levels of competence as well as the ability to cope under such pressurized circumstances. This first introduction to competitive swimming often prepares them for other school and national level competitions.

The rural kids also have a chance to discover any outstanding talents they may posess, and kids who had their first wins at the Shelton Gunasekera Memorial have gone on to place at national level competitions including the All Island Novices Swimming Competition.

We were also delighted to have our very own Rishanth Tuder selected to represent Sri Lanka as part of the Sri Lanka Minor Districts Combined Youth Team on a 9 day tour to Malaysia, playing three 1 Day (50 Overs) matches and two T20 matches against their Malaysian Counterparts.

Tuder was first discovered by the Foundation of Goodness during the 2012 Murali Harmony Cup in the North, where he was the wicket keeper for the Jaffna Combined Schools Team. His outstanding talent was undeniable and after being headhunted, he moved to Colombo and began playing for Muthiah Muralidaran’s old Club, Tamil Union. During this time, he also joined the Foundation of Goodness staff as a North programme co-ordinator.

Tuder was then selected to the newly formed Under 23 North/ East Combined Team as well as being one of the first Tamil players from the North to be a member of the southern Cricket Seenigama team.

Although the Sri Lankan team lost to the Malaysians during their tour, it was an amazing opportunity for them to experience playing and touring overseas. Tuder also managed to amass 4 catches, 4 stumpings & 1 run out during his four days of play.

30th March 2016