Mercantile Hockey Association holds 64th Annual General Meeting

• Kumar De Silva takes over as new President succeeding Manjula Wiemanne who stepped down after serving 7 years

The 64th Annual General Meeting of the Mercantile Hockey Association was held on 18 July at the Reg Wood Lounge of the Burgher Recreation Club.

Top hockey personality Kumar De Silva was elected as the new President for the ensuing year 2020/21.

Kumar, an old boy of Dharmadutha and D.S. Senanayake College, played for Sri Lanka Schools team and BRC and captained all teams except the Sri Lanka President’s XI. He is a former Director Sales at GlaxoSmithKline.

Kumar succeeded Manjula Wijemanne who was the President from 2013 to 2020 and stepped down after serving for seven years. He was appointed as the Vice Patron.

Manjula played for Ananda, Sri Lanka Schools, CR & FC, Old Anandians, Singer, Brown & Co, Mercantile Junior and Senior and was a National Poolist.

Speaking on the occasion legendary Past President and Life member of the Mercantile Hockey Association Dennis Rosayro said that Manjula Wijemmane had the honour of being the President of the two biggest hockey associations of the country, namely Colombo HA and Mercantile HA, and paid a glowing tribute for the yeoman services rendered. 

Rosayro further stated that the baton passes onto another thoroughbred, Kumar De Silva, who was elected President and expressed all confidence in Kumar. 

Kumar De Silva has earmarked several development projects such as player development, coaching, umpiring and backend staff development, etc.

The following were elected to serve the committee of the Mercantile Hockey Association for the year 2020/21:

Mercantile Hockey Association

Office Bearers For the year 2020/2021

Patron: Bryan Baptist – Mercantile Produce Brokers /Ex Bartleets

Vice Patrons: Dr. Rohitha Silva, Deva Ellepola, Tharaka Ranwala, Ramesh Schaffter, Manjula Wijemanne

President: Kumar De Silva – SRB Logistics Ceylon Ltd.

Vice Presidents: Asif Bary – SRB Logistics Ceylon Ltd., V. Balagopi – PricewaterhouseCoopers, M. Juragan Majid – Expo Lanka Pharmaceuticals, Christopher Tissera – SRB Logistics Ceylon Ltd., Ajith De Silva – Browns Group

Hony Secretary: Asif Bary – SRB Logistics Ceylon Ltd.

Assistant Secretary: Laxmananraj Ganeshkmar – Orient Insurance 

Hony. Treasurer: Chandana Weregama – Sampath Bank

Assistant Treasurer: C.J. Suduarchchi – HNB Group

Executive Committee: Sumith Jayasena – Commercial Bank, M.J.M. Irshad – Seylan Bank, Charitha Senanayake – HNB Group, Sameera Ushantha – Sampath Bank, Shammika Meegahapola – MAS Holdings, Gihan Peiris – Allianz Insurance, Mark Fernando – HSBC, Nipuna  Nirmal – David Peiris Motor Company, Sachith Dilshan – Airport & Aviation, Shaqiq Jaleel – Aitken Spence Group

Election of Trustees: Deva Ellepola

Auditors: Amarasekera & Co

Election of Committees

Working Committee: Kumar De Silva – Chairman, Asif Bary, V.Balagopi, Juragan Majid, Christopher Tissera, Ajith De Silva, Chandana Weragama

Selection Committee: Kumar De Silva, V. Balagobi, Sameera Ushantha

Tournament Committee: Christopher Tissera – Chairman, Laxmanraj Ganeshkumar, Sameera Ushantha, Jiffry Irshad

Finance Committee: V. Balagobi – Chairman, Chandana Weragama, Chaminda Suduarachchi

Sponsorship, Marketing and Communications Committee: Ajith De Silva – Chairman, Asif Bary, Juragan Majid, V. Balagobi, Nuwan Dilshan

Representatives to the SLHF: Kumar De Silva, Asif Bary, V. Balagopi, Juragan Majid, Laxmananraj Ganeshkumar.