Swimmer Akalanka bags a double, as 1016 receive ‘Colours’
National swimmer Akalanka Peiris of St. Peter’s College, Colombo bagged two top awards at the Sri Lanka Schools Milo Colours Awards for the years of 2016 and 2017 held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall ( BMICH) recently. The event was held after a lapse of two years, as a merged awards ceremony for the years of 2016 and 2017.
The merged event saw a total of 1016 students representing 30 sports who had won or participated at national and international level tournaments during the years of 2016 and 2017, receive colours from Milo. The total number of colours awards recipients for 2016 were 519 while for 2017, 497 athletes received colours.
Former Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket captain Charith Asalanka of Richmond College, Galle was the Most Outstanding Sportsman for 2016 while athlete Omaya Udayangani of Welimada Central College was awarded the Most Outstanding Sportswoman for the same year. Swimmer Akalanka Peiris of St. Peter’s won the Emerging Sportsman award for 2016 as swimmer Ramindu Samarakoon of Visakha Vidyalaya bagged as the Emerging Sportswoman for the same year.
Shuttler Ranthushka Karunathileke from Nalanda College, Colombo won the Most
Outstanding Sportsman for the year 2017 as paddler Hansani Kapugeekiyana of Visakha Vidyalaya won the Most Outstanding Sportswoman for the same year. Swimmer Akalanka Peiris won his second top award after being picked as the Emerging Sportsman for 2017. Shuttler Hasini Ambalangodage of Visakha Vidyalaya won the Emerging Sportswoman for 2017.
The organisers made all arrangements to host both events on the same day at different time allocations on April 4. The day began with the 2016 Colours Awards at 8.00am and proceeded with the 2017 edition from 2.00pm.
For both years, the Sri Lanka Schools Sports Council (SLSSC) named outstanding athletes for the two top awards -- the Most Outstanding and Emerging for boys and girls.
For 2016 Charith Asalanka ( Cricket), L. P. S. Dananjaya ( Athletics) and Imesh Udayanga (Table Tennis) were nominated for the Most Outstanding Sportsman award while for the Most Outstanding Sportswoman award the names of Omaya Undayangani (Athletics) and Muthumali Priyadarshani (Table Tennis) were put forward as nominees.
For the Emerging Sportsman award Akalanka Peiris ( Swimming), Shalitha Weerasinghe ( Athletics) and Sasindu Karunathilaka ( Badminton) competed while Chamathsara Divyanjali ( Table Tennis), Ramindu Samarakoon ( Swimming) and Zainab Sawmi ( Chess) were nominated for the Emerging Sportswoman award.
For 2017 Sasindu Karunaratne ( Badminton) and Minula Doluweera ( Chess) were nominated for the Most Outstanding Sportsman award while for the Most Outstanding Sportswoman award Hansani Piyumila (Table Tennis), Sachini Divyanjali ( Athletics) and Winoli Kaluarachchi (Swimming) were nominated.
Swimmer Akalanka Peiris and athlete Shalika Weerasinghe were nominated again for 2017 besides S.D. Kariyawasam (Athletics) for the Emerging Sportsman award. The Emerging Sportswoman award for 2017 had four nominees -- Hansani Ambalangodage (Badminton), Sayuri Jayaweera (Chess), Anika Seneviratne (Tennis) and Kavindya Sathsarani (Athletics).
The final eight winners were be announced at the gala events on April 4 during the two separate events in the morning and later in the afternoon.
State Minister of Education, Wijayakala Maheshwaran attended the 2016 event as the chief guest while Minister of Education, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam graced the 2017 event as chief guest in the afternoon.
Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications of Nestle Lanka, Bandula Egodage was presented a special memento by the Minister of Education, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, for his untiring and genuine effort of 25 years to uplift the standards of sports activities at school level.
The Sri Lanka Schools Milo Colours Awards event is considered as the highest annual sports award ceremony for the school sportsmen and sportswomen with many of the top award winners having represented Sri Lanka at international sports events, after impressing at national level.