Sri Lankan President Appoints New Navy CommanderSri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has appointed Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri as the 14th commander of the country's navy, the official Daily News reported on Saturday.Sandagiri will resume his office from the very beginning of next year, replacing Vice Admiral Cecil Tissera, the paper said but giving no reason for the replacement. With his 34 years of naval career he will become the most experienced officer ever to assume the high command of the navy in the country's 50 year history, the paper said. Sandagiri is the first naval officer of the country to attend the post graduate studies at the Royal College of Defense Studies in Britain where he secured his master's degree. He also studied at the Defense Staff College in India in 1984. Born and bred in Veyangoda in Western Province, 40 kilometers northeast of the Capital Colombo, he was enlisted in the then Royal Ceylon Navy in November 1966 and was the first batch of naval cadets to join the renowned Naval and Martime Acadamy in Trincomalee in July 1969. Sandagiri was made Rear Adiral in March 1997 and appointed as the Chief of Staff in April 1988. |
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