Military athletes steal the show
Sri Lanka armed forces -- Army, Navy and Air Force dominated while a sole schoolgirl from the hosts Piliyandala Central made a historic mark at Sri Lanka's first-ever Biathle Triathle National Tour (BTNT) held at the country’s inaugural national school, Piliyandala Central College. The event was inaugurated by the Modern Penthathlon Federation of Sri Lanka (MPFSL).
The National segment of the BTNT was a total domination by Sri Lanka Air Force, who clinched the Senior Men and Women Triathle events comfortably. Airman A. S. Nilaweera, a senior campaigner in cross country and triathle events, clocked 12 minutes and 31.14 seconds to win the Senior Men Trialthle, which included a four each runs of 400m dash, 50m swim and 5 hits 10m. The second and third slots were claimed by Sri Lanka Army's K.S. Udayanga and G.L. Kumara.
Airwoman K.K. Dissanayake clocked 18 minutes and 00.59 seconds to complete the same course and win the Senior Women Triathle, ahead of team mate P.B. Iresha. C. D. Kathriarachchi of Piliyandala Central College, was way far behind the top finisher, as she took double the time to clinch the third position.
The event was concluded successfully at the Central College in Piliyandala with almost 200 athletes taking part in Senior, Under-19, Under-15, Under-13 and Under- 11 age categories in Biathle, Triathle and Laser-Run segments were included in the event.
“Since this is the inaugural nationals of MPFSL, we have selected a historical venue, Central College, Piliyandala, which is the first- ever national sports school in the country,” the President of MPFSL, Nishanthe Piyasena, said.
The location had a well- equipped ground with a 50-metre swimming pool which is purposely built to develop the school level sports in the country, located 20 kilometres away from Colombo. As same as in the past, MPFSL conducted training camps for several schools situated around this location in the preceding one month to the event.
"The idea was to give the school kids and youth in the region to gain wider experience by using their training in a competition environment," Piyasena added.
A large number of children from schools and clubs all around the country and villages took part in the event. The interest among parents and the general public for the event was evident with the participation in large numbers to witness it. Apart from that, 15 volunteers from various universities and the private sector participated to make the event a success.
The senior categories for women and men saw several top athletes with high world rankings taking part in the event. These athletes represented the Sri Lankan Forces and other modern pentathlon sports clubs. The multitude of participants made the event more colorful and generated much interest among the viewing public.
As same as with other events of MPFSL, this time also included a segment by some industry experts attached to high profile clothing brands and universities, providing valuable knowledge about sportswear and sports health to the athletes who participated through a program called “Know How Expert”. This was carried out throughout the day and saw all athletes trying to gain knowledge about improving their performance through correct sportswear and healthy practices.
The Ministry of Sports assisted MPFSL to organise the event by partially funding it and giving human resource requirements. The event has specifically got the attraction and appreciation of NOCSL because of the high organising strength and high-quality production of the event.
"This new development will help MPFSL to promote the sport across the country with strong backup from the Ministry of Sport and National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka," Piyasena added.
"Our next focus is to cultivate Tetrathlon among Sri Lankan athletes to participate in the Youth Olympics in 2022, and the World University Championship in 2020 and uplift the Modern Pentathlon sport to the next level. We expect the top officials and others interested, who love multisport culture, to assist in preparing our athletes to participate in Asian Championship, World University Championships and qualification events for the upcoming Youth Olympics in Tetrathlon”.