The Inter Gateway Athletics Championship (IGAC) 2016 concluded on the 2nd of December at the Mahinda Rajapapkse International Stadium Diyagama, where athletes from the 04 Gateway schools competed in track and field events.
Contribution by Lakna Waravita from Gateway College Colombo
The championship, partly sponsored by Plenty Foods Pvt. Ltd. under the brand name ‘Samaposha’, saw some noteworthy performances from the young athletes.
Sharmila Jan of Gateway College Colombo who represents Sri Lanka at junior level was awarded ‘The Most Outstanding Athlete of the Meet’, ‘Best Senior Track Athlete Girls’ and ‘Best Senior Field Athlete Girls’ for her performances of 12.4s, 25.6s and 5.48m in the Under 19 100m, 200m and Long Jump respectively.
Daham Athapattu of Gateway College Colombo carried away the trophy for ‘The Best Senior Track Athlete Boys’ for his performances of 11.0s and 23.4s in the Under 19 100m and 200m. Udesh Ranasinghe and Haerisson Ragulan both from Gateway College Colombo shared the trophy for ‘Best Senior Field Athlete Boys’ for their performance of 1.85m in the Under 19 and Under 20 High Jump events respectively.
Sithuli Saparamadu of Gateway College Colombo was outstanding in the Junior Category. She went on to win both ‘Best Junior Track Athlete Girls’ and ‘Best Junior Field Athlete Girls’. Her performances of 14.3s (Under 13 100m) and 1.30m (Under 13 High Jump) enabled her to win these trophies. Venura De Alwis of Gateway College Colombo was awarded ‘Best Junior Track Athlete Boys’ for his performances of 14.3s (Under 13 100m) and 29.9s (Under 13 200m) while Minuka De Silva also of Gateway College Colombo was awarded ‘Best Junior Field Athlete Boys’ for his performance of 4.00m in the Under 13 Long Jump event.
In addition, the organisers introduced a new award this year which was termed ‘Rising Star’. This was awarded to 04 athletes from the 04 schools who displayed outstanding performances in their events. The selection was based on a criterion which included the recipient should not have won a medal at IGAC or a medal for an individual event at ISAC in the past. The following were the recipients of the ‘Rising Star’ award:
- Gateway College Dehiwela – Fazeel Fauz (Under 17 Boys)
- Gateway College Kandy – Oshadi Liyanage (Under 13 Girls)
- Gateway College Negombo – Shalila Weeratunga (Under 17 Boys)
- Gateway College Colombo – Aneesha Perera (Under 17 Girls)
Winners of Age Group Championships:
- Under 09 Girls: Senudi Weeraman – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 09 Boys: Luqmaan Deen – Gateway College Negombo
- Under 11 Girls: Nehansa Paranaliyanage – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 11 Boys: Bhanuka Kahaduwa – Gateway College Negombo
- Under 13 Girls: Sithuli Saparamadu – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 13 Boys: Venura De Alwis – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 15 Girls: Dehali Seneviratne – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 15 Boys: Shazeen Shahid – Gateway College Dehiwela
- Under 17 Girls: Filzah Farouk – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 17 Boys: Seshith Ariyawansa – Gateway College Kandy
- Under 19 Girls: Sharmila Jan & Randi Cooray – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 19 Boys: Udesh Ranasinghe – Gateway College Colombo
- Under 20 Girls: Himali Peter – Gateway College Negombo
- Under 20 Boys: Afkhar Amurdeen & Haerisson Ragulan – Gateway College Colombo
 2016 concluded on the 2nd of December at the Mahinda Rajapapkse International Stadium Diyagama, where athletes from the 04 Gateway schools competed in track and field events.){kind=link}