Nine ‘Gateway Griffins’ receive Golden Eagle Awards for representing country
A total of 475 girls and boys received merit, colours and special awards for their outstanding achievements in the field of sports at the annual ‘ Colours Nite’ of Gateway Group of Schools held at the Auditorium of the Kotelawala Defence University. Consequent to the introduction of the school’s mascot in 2018, students representing Gateway in sports are referred to as ‘Gateway Griffins’.
The event, held after a lapse of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, saw students of Gateway Colleges in Colombo, Kandy, Negombo, Dehiwala and Ratmalana receive awards for their achievements in athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, karate, netball, rowing, swimming, tennis, squash, table tennis, motor racing and kayaking.
Basketball players Iflal Iqbal, who represented Sri Lanka at the FIBA Under- 16 South Asian Basketball Championship 2019 that won a silver medal and Disura Dissanayake, who represented Sri Lanka at the FIBA Under- 18 3x3 Asian Basketball Championship 2019, netballers Aneesha Perera and Vishmika Rathnayake, who won silver medals by representing
Sri Lanka at the Asian Youth Netball Championship 2019, swimmers Amrith Perera and Alvin Arulmaran, who represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Age Group Swimming Championship 2019, footballer Maleeka Amith, who represented the country at the Under- 19 Women’s South Asian Football Championship 2021 as vice captain of the Sri Lanka team, Kulisa Nanayakkara, who represented Sri Lanka at the Western Asian Youth, Junior Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2019, and double silver medalist Jason Jayawardena, who represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Youth Para Games 2021, shared the Golden
Eagle award, the highest award for sports stars at Gateway.
Ms. Kasthuri Chellaraja Wilson, the former Sri Lanka International in netball and basketball player and the Group Chief Executive Officer of Hemas Holdings, graced the occasion as the chief guest. The guests of honour included Sri Lanka’s one and only paralympic gold medalist and record holder, Dinesh Priyantha Herath and Sri Lankan representatives in karate, squash, basketball, chess, netball, football and swimming, Yasinda Samaranayake, Ilham Asmone, Jayaliya Kumari, Yasodha Methmali, Chathurangi Jayasooriya, Sumith Walpola and Reshika Udugampola, respectively.