DSI felicitates the National Visually Handicapped Cricket team

Mr. Upendra Gunawardhana, Senior Manager – Marketing, D. Samson & Sons (Pvt) Ltd delivering the welcome speech

Following the excellent achievement at the World T20 Championship for the Visually Handicapped recently concluded in India, DSI held a felicitation lunch for the team as a gesture of appreciation. DSI’s sports shoe brand AVI was the official footwear sponsor of the team.

Out of the 9 matches played at the tournament, the highlight was the win against New Zealand after 19 years. Sri Lanka scored 334 runs without the loss of a wicket. The ‘Man of the Series’ was Suranga Sampath who scored 733 runs in total, which included the historical record of 5 centuries. As a team, Sri Lanka scored 9 centuries, resulting in being ranked 3rd in the world.

Thanking DSI for the sponsorship, the Manager of the team and President of Sri Lanka Visually Handicapped Cricket Association, Chaminda Pushpakumara stated, “We are sincerely grateful for the contribution that DSI has made to us. As a team we have faced many challenges even before departing for the series. We have players who have served the forces and lost their vision due to the war, but they still want to serve the country in any possible way. We are thankful to the Sports Ministry and Sri Lanka cricket for sponsoring our air tickets and providing a pitch for us to practice.”

“We have come this far mainly because of the dedication of our players. We hope DSI will continue to support us. We have played for the country for many years but this is the first time an organization has made an effort to appreciate us. We are happy that we have not been forgotten, even after the tournament is over,” he added further.

Mr. Nandadasa Rajapaksa, Chairman of D. Samson & Sons (Pvt) Ltd delivering the keynote speech at the ceremony

Speaking on behalf of D. Samson & Sons (Pvt.) Ltd., Chairman Nandadasa Rajapaksa stated, “We are honored to have been part of this great team who have achieved much. DSI is a truly local company which has come far from its beginning. The factory was first established in 1962 in the south of Sri Lanka. We had to face much competition throughout the years. Even facing competition from multi-national companies, we have come this far to be one of Sri Lanka’s premier brands. We understand the importance of dedication, hard work and perseverance, which is exactly what this team has.”

A purely Sri Lankan sports shoe brand, AVI’s range of sports footwear has developed according to the latest technology over the years in order to ensure that the wearer may gain maximum performance in the respective sport. The brand is known for its wide range of sports footwear for Cricket, Athletics, Badminton and Volleyball, which is presented to the Sri Lankan public within an attractive and affordable price range through DSI showrooms island wide.

AVI’s sole distributor, D. Samson & Sons (Pvt) Ltd is the main marketing and distribution arm of the DSI Samson Group and is also one of the largest retail networks in the country that provides footwear, accessories and apparel to the local customer. The company is the only distributor of local footwear brands; DSI, Ranpa, Samsons, Jessica, Silviar, Waves, Beat, Supersport and AVI, while also offers international brands such as, Reebok, Puma, Fila, Clarks, Florsheim and Redtape. The network of the organization spans more than 200 company outlets, 4000 dealers serviced by 50 sales representatives island wide.

Mr. Chaminda Pushpakumara, President of the Sri Lanka Cricket Association of the Visually Handicapped addressing the gathering

Man of the Series Suranga Sampath receiving a token of appreciation from Mr. Nandadasa Rajapaksa, Chairman of D. Samson & Sons (Pvt) Ltd.

Chairman Mr. Nandadasa Rajapaksa & Mrs. Kaushalya Perera, Director of D. Samson & Sons (Pvt) Ltd with the cricket team