Udaya and Rumeshika most outstanding
Udaya Ranasinghe of Vidyartha College Kandy and Rumeshika Ratnayake of St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Kegalle certainly would have felt that they have been deservingly paid back when both were named the Most Outstanding Sportsman and Sportswoman respectively at the 24th Milo Sri Lanka Schools Colours Awards Ceremony.
The glittering awards ceremony was held at the BMICH in Colombo with over 450 school children being recognised for their sporting accolades locally and globally during the year of 2015. Udaya, a star in the making in the field of Table Tennis was easily the choice for the main award, the Most Outstanding Sportsman. He has won many competitions locally at school level and became the first Sri Lankan to win a high profile tournament at Asian level.
Besides Udaya, others who were in line for the main award were Chamal Kumarasiri from D.S. Senanayake College Colombo in Athletics, Neyon Tharindu Sampaya from St. Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa in Karate and Ravindu Hasintha Laksiri from D.S. Senanayake College Colombo in Squash.
Rumeshika, the gold medalist of the 100 metre event at South Asian Games, was another easy choice for the main award for girls, the Most Outstanding Sportswoman. She has shown her prowess at events held locally and has been a regular selection for international meets lately. Rumeshika had three other contenders for the main award. They were Muthumali Priyadarshini from Sri Devananda College Ambalangoda in Table Tennis, Mihiliya Methsarani from Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya Colombo in Squash and K.V.P.D.N. Sooraweera from Vishaka Balika Vidyalaya Sapugaskanda in Karate.
Akalanka Peiris from St. Peter’s College Colombo was named the Emerging Sportsman while the Emerging Sportswoman’s award went to Dasuni Hansika Mendis of Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo. Akalanka is a budding swimmer and has won many events at school and national level while Dasuni is a prolific Chess player with great success.
Akalanka had competition with four others -- Prasad Jayasanka de Silva (Vidyartha College Kandy - Table Tennis), Roshan Dhammika Ranathunga (Kularathna Central College Godakawela - Athletics), Dineth Naotunna (D.S. Senanayake College Colombo - Chess) and M.W.M. Shamil (D.S. Senanayake College Kurunegala - Chess).
While Dasuni clinched the Emerging Sportswoman title Chamathsara Divyajali Fernando (Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo - Table Tennis), Dilhara Wickremasinghe (Musaeus College Colombo - Chess), Yamani Dulanjali (Visakha Vidyalaya - Athletic), G.G.A.P. Kumari (Ambagamuwa Central College - Karate), Fathoum Izzadeen (St, Peter’s Girls School - Squash) and Hiruni Sanjana Perera (Harischandra College Negombo - Swimming) also were among those who were in contention.
In general Ananda College Colombo had the most number of coloursmen, 28 while Royal College Colombo and Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo were the next best in numbers with 23 colours winners each.
Going by sports, Karate the most number of colours recipients, numbering 38. Other sports that won most number of colours were Water Sports (37), Netball (36), Athletics (35), Rugby (26),Cricket (18), Table Tennis (16), Carrom (15), Volleyball (14), Boxing (13), Chess (13), Mountaineering (12), Weightlifting (11), Softball Cricket (10), Wrestling (9), Shooting (8), Taekwondo (8), Gymnastics (5), Handball (5), Throwball (4), Squash (4), Rowing (4), Football (4), Tennis (3), Baseball (2) and Aerobic Gymnastics (2).
The annual event, organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Sports Council of the Ministry of Education and sponsored by Milo of Nestle Lanka, covered the sporting achievements of schoolchildren who competed at national and international level during 2015. According to the organisers, Sri Lanka Schools Sports Council, a scheme to groom the Milo Schools Colours Awards winners for future international events is underway.
Minister of Education, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam was the chief guest of the ceremony while the guest of honour was Shivani Hedge, the Managing Director of Nestle Lanka.