Gateway athletes among top performers
Many athletes of Gateway displayed their prowess at the highest level of competition in Sri Lanka by performing exceptionally well in their respective events at the Senior John Tarbet Championship held recently at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Diyagama. Sharmila Jan won both 100m and 200m events in the Under 18 category. Randi Cooray won the Under 18 High Jump event in addition to getting the fourth place in Hurdles. Asiri Wijesekara, back on track after his injury last year, won his favourite event, 200m in the Under 18 Boys category.
Among the other performers of Gateway were Sadeepa Henderson who emerged second and third in the 200m and 100m Under 16 category, Natalie Malpana who came fourth in both 100m and 200m in the Under 18 category, Sandithi Jayasekara who secured the fourth position in Under 18 High Jump and Daham Athapattu who came fifth in the 100m in the Under 18 Boys category.
Gateway’s Under 18 girls relay team (Shamila Jan, Randi Cooray, Natalie Malpana and Sandithi Jayasekara) emerged first in the 4x100 and third in the 4x400. The Under 16 team (Sadeepa Henderson, Filzah Farouk, Aneesha Perera and Thanugi Wanniarachchi) secured the fourth place in the 4x100 relay.
In the overall performance of the meet, Gateway College came fourth in the Girls category behind Ratnayake Central College Walala, Ambagamuwa Central College and Sumana Balika Ratnapura. Thus Gateway came on top of all private and state schools in the western province. In the Under 18 girls’ category, Gateway was placed second losing out only to the top school in the island in athletics, Ratnayake Central College Walala.
13-year-old Royalist Duminda Abeywickrema stole the limelight at the 18th Classic Badminton Championship 2016 organised by the Western Province Badminton Association by emerging Boys Under 18 Singles champion while Hansima Ashirwadini of Anula Vidyalaya, Nugegoda won the Girls Under 18 Singles championship.