Legendary basketball coach Ram Sundaralingam dies at 89 in the UK

One of the finest basketball coaches produced by Sri Lanka, Ramanathan (Ram) Sundaralingam, has passed away in the UK at the age of 89.

Fondly known as Ram, he dedicated his life coaching basketball and St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena was the school to greatly benefit from his expertise being the undisputed school champions for several years in the late 50s and 60s.

Through his coaching, St. Benedict’s produced a number of players to the Sri Lanka basketball team, among them Percy Perera who was the ‘Best Shooter’ at the Asian Games in Bangkok 1966, and Cosmos Perera, the school’s first national captain.

Born and bred in Jaffna, Ram also formed the Old Bens team that went on to win many laurels in basketball at the Nationals and several other club tournaments. He was also a teacher who taught Tamil and played an active part in Tamil literary programs in school and regular Radio Ceylon (now SLBC) programs. He later went on to settle down in London.

Ram was a giant in basketball coaching and the heights he made the Bens basketballers achieve in inter-school, club and national level are legendary. (ST)