VISAKHAPATNAM: When Vizag resident Sarika Siva Prasad started playing cricket in the early eighties, he dreamt of playing for the country some day.
A handy all-rounder who could bowl left-arm spin and deal some lusty blows in the middle, Prasad, now 61, managed to make it to the Andhra Pradesh Ranji Trophy team in 1985, but never got to play a game and was kept among the reserves.
Five struggling years later, when Prasad's career looked like fading into oblivion, came an offer which changed his life forever. He got a job offer from Singapore Technologies Limited, and decided to leave Visakhapatnam for the Southeast Asian nation. The rest, as they say, is history.
Prasad also coached S’pore national team
T oday, Prasad runs SportyGo, which is one of Singapore’s top cricket academies. Five players in the current Singapore national team — Anish Param, Janak Prakash, Utsav Rakshit, Timothy Singam and Rohan Rangarajan — are from his academy.
Two local talents, Low Chong Wei and Tham Shuchua, are in the national under-19 team. “Watch out for Anish Param. He’s a solid all-rounder and could be the next big thing for Singapore cricket,” he says.
Prasad is also a qualified umpire and has donned the umpire’s hat for over two decades and officiated in several ICC tournaments like the women’s World Cup, under-19 World Cup, Asian Cricket Council tournaments, etc. He also played for the Singapore national cricket team and worked as a senior coach with the Singapore Cricket Association. “I was searching around for cricketing opportunities when I got this offer from Singapore and I took it up.
Cricket was at a nascent stage in Singapore at the time, and it gave me the impetus to follow my passion. I played for Ceylon sports club for seven years (1995 to 2002). I also got a chance to play for the Singapore national team during that time. Later, I joined as a coach with the national team,” Prasad told TOI.
He was soon elevated to the position of national coach and given permanent citizenship of Singapore. After working with the national team for a few years, Prasad decided to set up his own academy. The SportyGo academy currently has about 200 youngsters honing their cricketing skills, a majority of them from India and Sri Lanka.
“Cricket is my passion and by setting up the academy, I am getting to live my passion. I wanted to give back something to the game and Singapore by producing talented cricketers for the national team. The satisfaction of being involved in something you really love is a different feeling altogether, and I consider myself fortunate to have got that opportunity,” he says.
What makes a good coach? “Being exemplary in what you teach and developing good players into responsible human beings,” Prasad explains.
