The staff at the Sunday Observer mourn the passing away of dear colleague Ranjan Anandappa, a veteran in the field of sports journalism in a career spanning over 30 years.
He entered the field of sports journalism at the now defunct Sun Group of Newspapers in 1984 after a short stint at the Navy, which he joined after leaving school at Ananda. Ranjan was no mean sportsman himself, playing for his school’s first eleven cricket team, excelling as a left-arm opening bowler and a hard batting lower order batsman. That he was picked to play for a school that was the leading Buddhist educational institution of the day was testimony to his class as a young cricketer.
In his career as a sports journalist, Ranjan covered many overseas assignments to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan and had the privilege of being chosen as an adjudicator in a test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, played in Pakistan.
Ranjan was a man of many parts, sportsman, sports journalist, commentator and was also famous for his singing abilities, going to the extent of putting out an album. His songs in Sinhala and English were mostly on the theme of cricket and Sri Lankan cricketers, the most fam ous being his songs on Sri Lanka’s victory at the World Cup and the one composed for Murali. He passed away on Thursday after a brief illness and his funeral will take place today at the General Cemetery, Borella at 4 p.m.
He will be missed very much at the Sunday Observer.