SHELINDA RISES ABOVE THE REST

eenage sprinting sensation from Gateway College Colombo, Shelinda Jansen rose above the rest to win the RIT Alles Challenge Trophy and Edexcel Challenge Trophy for the best athlete at the 19th International Schools Athletic Championships (ISAC) 2019, concluded at Sugathadasa Stadium on Sunday .

Jansen who took the social media by storm last year with her performance at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, clocked her personal best in the 100m with a record breaking 12.08 seconds in the girls Under-20 final, which sealed her the award. She also won the best female athlete of the meet award.

Shelinda finished the meet with four Gold medals. She won the 200m – also with a record breaking season best of 24.83 seconds – on day two. She anchored the 4x100m relay team to the Gold medal, while also running the second lap in the unfamiliar 4x400m relay to help Gateway win another Gold medal in a thrilling Under-20 final.While Shelinda took the honours in the Under-20 category, Sadeepa Henderson dazzled in the Under-18 category. She also finished with four Gold medals and the Under-18 best female athlete title.Sadeepa won the 100m and 200m and set a new meet record in the long jump to complete three individual Gold medals. She then anchored the Gateway 4x400m Under-18 relay team to the Gold medal.

Best male athlete of the meet was won by Kamalraj Elroy from Lyceum International School Wattala, who leapt 6.97m in the boys Under-20 long jump.

Lyceum Wattala ended on top of the medals tally with 36 Gold, 27 Silver and 21 Bronze, while Gateway Colombo was second with a total of 57 with 24 Gold, 16 Silver and 17 Bronze.
Lyceum Nugegoda had to settle for the second runners-up berth with 11 Golds, 26 Silver and 17 Bronze.

The closing ceremony was graced by cricketing legend Kumar Sangakkara as the chief guest, along with Directors and Principals of all the participating schools.

Results:

Champions
U-12 Girls’ – Nelini Samarasekara – Lyceum Nugegoda
U-12 Boys’- Sathiya Moorthy Abhileshkar – Lyceum Wattala
U-14 Girls’- Glory Perera – Gateway Colombo
U-14 Boys’- Anuk Kathriarachchi – Lyceum Panadura
U-16 Girls’ – Dulyana Suludagoda – Lyceum Nugegoda
U-16 Boys’ – (1) Thimesh Gamage – Lyceum Ratnapura, (2) Thinal Senanayake – Asian International, (3) Jerril Philips – Lyceum Wattala
U-18 Girls’ – Sadeepa Henderson – Gateway Colombo
U-18 Boys’- Thuthimal Madugalla- Colombo Int’l School Kandy
U-20 Girls’ – Dewmini Hewage – Lyceum Ratnapura
U-20 Boys’ – Lahiru Krishan – Lyceum Wattala
Overall Relay Champions – Lyceum Wattala