Sports
Anjelo had to play at his best to shine among other TT stars of his era
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Former table tennis singles champion Michael Anjelo Santiago (71) was in Sri Lanka and met up with some of his close friends (who at one time were also his toughest opponents) at a reunion at Otter Club in Colombo. Two of these close friends who caught up on old times with him were former singles champions Jothipala Samaraweera and Lalith Priyantha.
Anjelo was the champion in the years 1971, 74, 78, 85 and 86 and the break between winning years shows that the competition was tough those days. In fact, that was the ‘golden era of table tennis’ and one scribe-Anto Fernandopulle- described the wonders of the sport magnificently with a banner newspaper headline which went ‘If you want to go abroad play ping pong’. Anjelo remembers this headline very well and in an interview with this writer recalled how the sport rewarded him with 24 opportunities to travel abroad and play competitive table tennis; a sport also known long ago as ping pong.
He still remembers how hard it was to play against Jothipala Samaraweera who was a master at the game holding the racket in a pen holder grip. But Anjelo played the game of his life against Deepak Narendas in the men’s singles final in the 1970s where he went down fighting in a five-setter thriller. He won his fifth singles crown beating Lalith Priyantha in 1986 to equal a record set by Samaraweera in winning the most number of singles crowns (back then). In fact, he gave thought to contesting the 1985 and 1986 nationals after his wife Samadara made a request to continue playing in his pet event, the men’s singles.
The vision players had for the game and the positive frame of mind the players had back then surfaces when players like Anjelo speak to the press. “When I was first selected to represent the country, I was 17 and the tour was going to clash with my O’ Level Exam. But I chose the tour ahead of studies because we saw how talented table tennis players were offered jobs by mercantile companies,” said Anjelo who had completed the missed exam the following year.
By 19 years of age, he was established in the sport and had found employment as an assistant accountant at a footwear company. A job at 19 and as an assistant accountant? “I was good in mathematics,” said a smiling Anjelo.
As much as he trained hard and played ruthlessly at competitions, he also did something vital which must be mentioned here. He was able to read the minds of his opponents. That was the intelligence of players of yesteryear.
Anjelo Santiago stamped his class in the
singles nationals in the years 1971, 74, 78,
85 and 86
His approach to the game changed with an opportunity he got to visit China and undergo residential training. “We saw our game being raised and our fitness levels too shot up due to this exposure at training in another country,” said the former champ who was accompanied to China by three other players.
He changed jobs many times serving in companies like Ceylon Cold Stores, Building Material Corporation and Brown and Company. He also served the Sri Lanka Army; where he said he played his best table tennis. In 1974 he won a triple crown at the sport partnering Narendas in the men’s doubles and Nandini Udeshi in the mixed doubles.
He rates Jothipala Samaraweera as the toughest opponent he had met during his career which continued till 1990. Fans may recall how two sections of spectators cheered for their choice of player in the table tennis singles finals whenever these two met. Spectators never clashed and the only way they released their energies were by vociferous shouting. After the final, regardless of who had won, Samaraweera and Anjelo made a habit of visiting the pub for a quarter of their favourite alcohol. That was the camaraderie among player of that era.
Table tennis was a popular sport back then and the sport’s top players received a lot of recognition. In 1975 there was a voting competition where fans got to choose their favorite sports personality. Cricketer D.H de Silva won the competition with table tennis players Samaraweera and Anjelo finishing fifth and tenth respectively in that competition. That was how popular the sport of table tennis was back then. Jothipala was a household name in the entire sports scene, not only in the racket sport, and we can just imagine the interest table tennis generated with the names of Priyantha, Narendas, Mahinda Dandeniya, N.H Perera, Shabar and Shabeer Hussain thrown into the equation. Each year produced a different champion. And unlike in present times with most sports the winner at table tennis was never a forgone conclusion for those who left home to watch a game of table tennis played at the top level.
By 1990 Anjelo had won all top local titles that were on offer, worked in many companies and raised a family with his beloved. But he was not financially stable and that prompted him to find employment in Canada. He later got his family to immigrate to Canada after establishing himself in the field of insurance.
When asked to name some of the most memorable moments in the sport Anjelo had this to say. “I took a set off world champion Li Chung Kuang at the 1971 Asian Championships in China and a set off Japanese World Champion Ohono at the 1979 Asian Championships. I also got to pose for a photograph with the world best 110 players when I went for the Afro Asian Latin American Tournament” he said with a beaming smile.
He said that he had played club table tennis when he set foot in Canada with that level of table tennis deemed as sport at B Division. He had slowly worked himself up in the ratings and remembers playing in as many as ten games a day. His involvement with club table tennis in Canada shows that Sri Lanka lacks that club culture; something which is so essential for a sport and its players to survive.
Anjelo’s parting words were for the sport to attract more sponsorships, get the services of a foreign coach and for the game’s legends and accomplished players to get involved in coaching and administration.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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