Rehabilitated LTTE cadres in Sri Lanka disabled volleyball team

Published : 3:16 pm  October 21, 2011 |  No comments so far  |     |   (16)  |  

 ‘‘Past is past. Let us march towards unity’’ said a former LTTE cadre, Malarvizhi Paramalingam, who is a member of the Sri Lanka Disabled Volleyball team selected to take part in two international tournaments. Malarvizhi said that at a press conference held at the Olympic house on Thursday.

She also stated that she had never seen or touched a ball prior to joining the Disabled National Volleyball squad. She said that the training and coaching have given her hopes and she is hoping to do well in the disabled sport.

Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that the President Mahinda Rajapakse wanted to get the girls from Kilinochchi who lost their legs during the battle.

 “When the pool was formed for the disabled volleyball team, initially there were only men and women from the forces. So I thought why we forget the ones from the North and East"

"So I directed J. R. Krishani to find disabled women and within three days she got three from Kilinochchi” said the Minister of sports at a press conference held in Colombo on Thursday.

“Forces were fighting to unite the country while the LTTE were fighting for separate division.  Nevertheless it's nice to see that the ones who fought with each other, have now united as team to play for their country and it’s a great success than winning a medal” said Aluthgamage.

The Sri Lanka Disabled Volleyball teams both men and women will take part in the Beach Volleyball Masters 2011 to be held in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia from 25 to 28 October and the Asian Disabled Sitting Volleyball to be held in Beijing in November.

There are fifteen members in the men’s pool while eight are in the women’s pool including three from Kilinochchi. The men are coached by Saman Priyantha Perera while the women's team is trained by Jayasiri Perera.

(By Tony Mike)