Cricketer Geethal Fernando, Sportsman of the Year
Ge e t h a l Fe r n a n d o, the Benedictine paceman, who knocked the delights out of the Josephian batting line up, taking seven wickets in each innings, sending the Joes reeling to an innings defeat in 2016, won the prestigious Sportsman of the Year award at the Benedictine Colours Night 2016, held at the Defense Services Auditorium recently.
At the glittering ceremony, 260 sportsmen of St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, were presented with Merit, Colours, Special Awards And Star Awards, for their outstanding feats in several disciplines during the year 2016. The disciplines included Cadeting, Chess, Scouting, Swimming, Tennis, Hockey, Basketball, Football, Gymnastics, Karate, Rugby, Cricket and Athletics.
The sportsmen who represented Sri Lanka at International competitions were the recipients of the coveted and most sought after Star awards. In Karate, Shamal Amersainghe and Rangana de Zoysa received Stars for representing the country at the World Karate Championship 2016 in Japan and the Asia Pacific Karate Championship 2016 in Sri Lanka respectively.
Kevin Ranidu Silva won the Star for competing at the World Schools Chess Championship in Sochi, Russia and coming within the first 8. Top athletes Santhush Weerasinghe, Sahan Rajapaksha and Shammi Lakshan won Stars, Santhush for winning two golds at the Asian Childrens Games held in Russia and Sahan Rajapaksha and Shammi Lakshan for representing Sri Lanka at the Junior Asian Athletic Championship held in Vietnam.
The ‘Benedictine Spirit Award’ was won by brilliant athlete Thiran Ravishka Indrajith for competing in the Under-17 – 800m final at the All-Island School Athletic Championship 2016 held in Kandy, running with high fever after a sleepless night due to a stomach disorder and winning a silver medal for the team and the school. The Best Captain of the Year award went to skipper of the outstanding Benedictine Athletics team 2016, which won many titles including the All Island Schools Relay Championship and the Junior Sir John Tarbat Athletic Championship.
The Sportsman of the Year, Geethal Fernando had an outstanding year in 2016 as a brilliant paceman and helped St. Benedicts to win the prestigious All-Island Inter-School Twenty20 Championship 2016 for the first time in the school’s history beating St. Peter’s College in a pulsating final at the Premadasa Stadium.
Geethal represented the Sri Lanka Under-19 team in their series against the Pakistan Under- 19 team and performed creditably. He was however omitted inexplicably from the Sri Lanka team for the Under- 19 World Cup. The runner- up Sportsman of the Year was won by Double Coloursman in Cricket and Athletics, Poorna Charuka Dayananda.
The Sportsman of the Year of the Primary Section was Shamal Amarasinghe, who represented Sri Lanka at the World Karate Championship in Japan. The runners- up award went to Angelo Vidushal Fonseka, who won a gold medal in Height Bar at the Junior National Gymnastics Championship 2016.
The Merit, Colours and Special Awards were presented by outstanding Old Benedictine Sportsmen in different disciplines and Star Awards were given away by the Chief Guest Cosmas Perera Mahagama, the Benedictine Basketball Legend, who was the first ever from the school to captain a national sports team. He was appointed the Sri Lanka Basketball captain in 1963 at the age of 22 years and retained the captaincy for 12 years uninterrupted.
The presentations were interspersed with video displays, items of entertainment like dances, vocal and instrumental music, karate show, gymnastics exhibition, showing the immense and varied talents of young Benedictines. The vote of thanks was delivered by Dinitha Basnayake, the 2016 Cricket captain and Head Prefect, who is also a brilliant student.