The 8th edition of the Sri Lanka University Games, better known as SLUG XIII came to an end on 7th September with University of Sri Jayawardenepura emerging overall champions. This year’s SLUG was hosted by University of Ruhuna with 14 state Universities competing against each other in 22 different sports.
Initially it was University of Colombo who were in the lead but they had to be satisfied with the runners up title this time around as J’pura clinched the title for the 1st time since 2013. University of Moratuwa emerged 2nd runners up after overtaking University of Kelaniya on the final day.
This year saw many other upsets with defending champions losing their titles and the underdogs getting the better of the fancied teams. The season started off with Cricket and Rugby preliminaries. Eventually the marauding University of Colombo beat University of Kelaniya in the rugby finals 39-00 and University of Sri Jayawardenepura beat University of Jaffna in the cricket finals. The Hockey Men’s championship was won by University of Peradeniya while the Sabaragamuwa University won the Women’s title.
A few sports were played in Colombo though the hosts were University of Ruhuna. University of Colombo won Tennis in the Men’s category which was played at the Gymkhana Club while University of Kelaniya clinched their maiden title in the Women’s category. Athletics was held at the Sugathadasa stadium where the athletes from Sabaragamuwa University outran the rest. Rowing honors were shared as University of Moratuwa won the Men’s category and University of Colombo won the women’s category.
SLUG XIII officially kicked off on the 2nd of September with most sports happening during this time period. University of Jaffna won the Netball championship while the hosts University of Ruhuna stormed the swimming pool in the men’s category with the J’pura ladies clinching the swimming title in the Women’s category. University of Moratuwa secured a double title in Taekwondo while the Karate double title was won by University of Kelaniya. The wrestlers of J’pura powered their way to become overall champions while the weightlifters from Peradeniya University lifted their title. The Elle Men’s and Women’s titles were won by USJP and University of Kelaniya respectively.
The highly debatable Football final was concluded with both University of Jaffna and Moratuwa sharing the title after an inquiry. Sabaragamuwa University clinched the double titles once again in Volleyball while USJP clinched the double titles in Basketball and Badminton. The final day of SLUG belonged to University of Moratuwa as they were adjudged overall champions in Chess and clinched another double title in Table Tennis.
The closing ceremony was graced by the legendary Kumar Sangakkara as the chief guest in the presence of Vice Chancellors of the participating universities and officials of the SLUG organizing committee. The Games are held every three years with the next SLUG scheduled to be held at the Eastern University in 2022.
