St. Benedict’s, Lyceum Wattala seal Western province Schools championships

St. Benedict’s College Kotahena and Lyceum International School Wattala emerged champions of the Western Province Schools Games –Athletics Championships concluded at Diyagama on Thursday (22nd).

Benedict’s collected 200 points while Maris Stella became second with 163 points. Lyceum International School Wattala finished third with 98 points.In the girls category Lyceum International School Wattala collected 157 points edging over Ave Maria Convent (97 points) and Holy Cross Convent Gampaha (87 points).

Two jumpers, Ushan Thiwanka from Maris Stella College Negombo and Poornima Gunaratne from Leeds International were adjudged as best athletes for their leap of 2.15m in the high jump and 5.66m in the long jump respectively.

In the under-16 event, Gateway sprinter Sadeepa Henderson won three gold medals in the 100m, 200m and long jump while also sealing the under-16 girls’ best athlete title. In the under-18 event St. Joseph’s hurdler Sheshan Kariyawasam and Lyceum Sprinter Sachini Divyanjali won the girls and boys under-18 best athlete titles.

Delayed Schedule put athletes in a quandary

Scheduling mishaps had resulted in agony for many athletes as organizers had failed to start the championship in time on any of the competition days where many events which was schedule for the day had to be postponed for the next day. The delay had been a result in events clashing and that had also changed the outcome of the competition. Competitors whose events were postponed to the next day on the eleventh hour has not reported the next day for the competition as it seemed they had enough drama in the competition. Unlike other years, telecommunication company ‘Airtel’ were sponsoring the Western Province championship and athletes and schools expected better organization from the organizers.

Yet they had failed to at least hold events on time or distribute bib numbers on time which was been distributed on day one that took hours which resulted in schedule delays.

Best Athletes

Boys

Under 20 : Ushan Thivanka Maris Stella Under –high Jump 2.15 metres

Under 18: Shehan Dilusha Kariyawasam St. Joseph’s College 110 M hurdles-14.0 secs

Under 16: Devindu Pradeep D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo long jump 6.52 metres

Girls

Under 20: Poornima Gunaratne Leeds International- Long Jump 5.66 metres

Under 18: Tharaka Divyanjali Lyceum Under-200m- 25.40 secs.

Under 16: Sadeepa Henderson Gateway long jump 5.37 metres.