"Champions keep playing until they get it right" - Billie Jean King
The past couple of years have been extremely challenging for the entire world, which eventually created a ripple effect on university sports as well. Sportsmen and sportswomen of University of Colombo were also faced with tons of challenges due to the pandemic. But such challenges never came in the way of these hard working resilient players in achieving their goals and making UOC proud.
The 2019, 2020 and 2021 Champions Night (colours awards ceremony) held on January 7th 2022 at the New Arts Theatre of University of Colombo. Adhering to strict health guidelines the Award ceremony was held in three phases. The chief guest of the night Mr. Dian Gomez, Senior Prof. Chandrika Wijeyaratne the Vice Chancellor of university of Colombo, the Chairman of the Sports Advisory Board for the years 2020/21 Dr.Kapila Bandara, the Chairman of the Sports Advisory Board for the years 2019, Prof. Devaka Weerakoon, the Acting Director of the Department of Physical Education Mr. Sanjeewa Jayasighe, the former acting director of the Department of Physical Education, Mr.Ajantha Dahanayke, Members of the Sports Advisory Board, all instructors of the Department of Physical Education, and all coaches graced the occasion.
Session one started off by the welcome speech of the Amalgamated club president for the year 2021, Mr.Mahin De Silva. The Merit Awards, the awards for the Best Performances in the year 2019 and awards of Inter-Faculty Freshers’ for the year 2019 was distributed in this session. The first session came to an end with the vote of thanks by secretary of the Amalgamated club 2021 Ms.Pamudi Salpadoru.
Followed by the first session, the second session began with the welcome speech by the President of Amalgamated club for the year 2020, Mr.Dushyantha Hettiarachchi. The awards were given for best performance in sports for the year 2019 and the awards of Inter-Faculty Overall Championships. The session came to an end with the vote of thanks by Secretary of the Amalgamated club for the year 2020, Mindula Bulumulla giving the vote of thanks.
The final session of the night started with the welcome speech by the Sports Board Chairman followed by awarding the first set of colours of the session. The awards of invitational and other tournaments, national level representations by university of Colombo undergraduates, awards of SLUSA representation in national and international levels, awards for international level representations, awards for interuniversity championships and new meet records.
The most awaited moment of the event concluded with the following prestigious awards
Mr. A.L.D. Moonemalle Challenge Cup for the most outstanding Men’s team – University of Colombo Rugby team.
Prof. D.A. Ranasinghe Challenge cup for the most outstanding Women’s team – University of Colombo Rowing Women’s team.
Mr. Chinthaka Jayawardena Memorial Tropghy presented by Mr. Luxman Wijesuriya for the Sportsman winning the most number of Colours : U.D.Udayaranga.
Prof. Stanley Wijesundara Memorial Tropghy for the Sportswoman winning the most number of Colours : D.T.A.Perera
Mr. S.T.Walpita Challenge Cup for the Most Outstanding Sportswoman of the Year: Nammuni Isuri Suhara Mendis
Mr. Leslie Handunge Challenge Cup for the Most Outstanding Sportsman of the Year: Yasitha Rangana De Silva
The glamorous and the most exciting event of the sporting calendar of University of Colombo concluded on a high note, with the speech from the Amalgamated Club Secretary for the year 2019, Ms. Akshana Perera.
We at MoraSpirit would like to congratulate all the athletes, from University of Colombo who were awarded colours and we wish them all the very best in their
future activities. In a time of pandemic when it is not easy to conduct such an event onsite, staff, students, non- academic staff of University of Colombo worked tirelessly to make this event a success proving that anything is possible when it’s done as a team!
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