The 4th and final phase of the All Island School Games kicked off at the Bogambara stadium yesterday. As scheduled it will be held from the 13th to the 17th of this month. The games started with about 5000 athletes from 24 districts and the 9 provinces are taking part in this year’s track and field events.
Things stated off with a glamorous opening ceremony which included the introduction of the athletes. This was then followed up by the lighting of the Games lamp. The Referees and the Athletes oaths vowing to uphold the aspects of sportsmanship then followed.
The chief guest for the occasion, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, delivered the opening speech.
The finals scheduled for the day were the Javelin U19 Boys’, Pole vault U19 Girls’, Long Jump U15 Girls’, Discus Throw U17 Boys’, High Jump U17 Girls’ and Shot Put U21 Boys’. However, many events had to be postponed due to darkening conditions.
The first medals of the meet were awarded to the athletes who took part in the U21 Shot Putt, with Western Province claiming all three medals. The first place went to W.M.M.Madusanka who threw 14.42m while S.S.Chamil and W. Samith Madusanka who threw 13.8 and 13.2m respectively won the silver and bronze medals.
The U15 Girls’ Long Jump was the second and last event of the first day. It was won by Gateway College’s Sandeepa Henrique Henderson. The silver went to Sandani Ranasinghe of Central College while third place went to Ciana Wickramasinghe of Ladies’ College Colombo.
Many of the track events were also postponed to the next day due to bad light.
Day 2 will commence at 8.30 am at Bogambara.
