Former Royal College athletics captain and Public Schools meet record holder Senior Deputy Inspector General Roshan Fernando who is the present Senior DIG of the Central Province has pledged to give his best to promote sports in Kandy saying he will leave no stone un-turned in his quest.
Except for rugby, most sports in Kandy are in a state of neglect and it is hoped that the presence of this sporting policeman will help to turn things around.
At at one time Kandy police did well in sports like cricket, football, hockey, athletics, volleyball, cue sport, lawn tennis, table tennis, netball and in the inter police rugby tournaments.
In the past all the top police officers who were stationed in Kandy gave their best for sports promotion. From the time of LI de Silva, a great cricket lover and the man who expanded the police ground with the help of Sylvestrian schoolboys, FND Jilla, KSC Van Rooyen, Merick Gunaratne, M. Shanmugam, Gamini Gunawardena, Premadasa Udugampola, TB Talwatte, Walter Perera, AA Samarasinghe, NBH Wijeratne, PB Ekanayake, Chandra Mendis, Bodi Liyanage, Mahinda Balasuriya, Lakshman Seneviratne, Gamini Navaratne, Pujith Jayasundara, Asoka Ratnaweera, M. Gunatillake, J. Gammanpila, R. Kasthurirathne, Jagath Abeysiriwardene, Nimal Mediwake, M. Karunaratne, B. Peramune, P. Ganegama, MB Ellepola., Sisira Kumara, M. Tennakoon, Edmund Mahendra, SM Wickremasinghe and Sudath Marasinghe to name some of them, gave a big hand for Police sports.
Roshan Fernando sees sport in Kandy as a worthy cause and has already pledged to organise workshops for all sports under the framework of qualified coaches no sooner the current coronavirus situation is over.
It must be recalled that in the year 1902, HC Dowbegin, Assistant Superintendent of Police in Kandy arranged a series of cricket matches between the Police team and a side from the Kandy Recreation Club and this series was won by Kandy Recreation Club. Football, athletics, hockey, volleyball and tennis also got off the ground.
Roshan Fernando served in all ranks from Sub-Inspector to Senior DIG and is one of the longest-serving officers among the senior ranks in the police.
He was a member of the Royal College cricket team and also played rugby and volleyball and boxed as well. He led the Royal College champion athletic team in 1979, the year they won all three major schools championships - the Junior John Tarbet meet, Senior Tarbet meet and Relay Carnival. That was the year he won Public Schools colours in athletics that included anchoring Royal to two Public Schools records in the 4x100m Relay and Medley Relay in the Under-19 age group.
He started his schooling at St. Mary’s College, Negombo, where his Under-11 long jump record in athletics for the Marians still remains unbroken for 46 years.
As an Under-16 athlete at Royal, Fernando had accounted for five records, including the long jump which still remains intact after 41 years.