‘Janashakthi Athletes’ dazzle at National Meets
July 6, 2010 02:43 pm
Janashakthi sponsored athletes proved their mettle and emerged winners at both the recent 87th All-Island Schools’ Athletic Championships and the Junior National Athletics Championships.
Six of them came first in their respective events at the recent 87th All-Island Schools’ Athletic Championships where Ishara Dayananda (Ferguson Girls High School, Ratnapura) was adjudged Best Female Athlete having emerged winner in her 100m, 200m Hurdles Events.
Pabasara Senanayake (St. Joseph’s Girls School, Kegalle) came 1st in three Under 18 Sprint Events while Nayomika Gimhani Jayatilleke (Sumana Balika Vidyalaya, Ratnapura) emerged 1st in the 100 Hurdles Event, the 400 Hurdles event and 2nd in the 400 Metres event.
Nimesha Siriwardena (Galenbidunuwewa Central College) was placed 1st in Under 16 High Jump and Chamika Jayamini (Sumana Balika Vidyalaya, Ratnapura) 1st in the Under 18, 800 meters and 1500 meters events, while Hiruni Weerasekera (Ferguson Girls High School, Ratnapura) emerged 1st and 2nd in the Under 20 Triple and Long Jump events.
Weeks prior to this, at the Junior National Athletics Championships, Sashipraba Jayasinghe won the 100m, 200m and 400 m and was adjudged Best Under 23 Female Athlete. Ishara Dayananda won the 100m, 200m and 100m Hurdles and the award for the Best Under 20 Female Athlete. Nayomika Gimhani won the 100m and 400m Hurdles and 3rd in the 400 meters events and went on to win the “Priyanthi Gunasekera” Trophy for the best Female Hurdler at the same event.
Hiruni Weerasekera came 01st in Under 20 Triple Jump and 02nd in Long Jump, Nimesha Siriwardena came 02nd in Under 16 High Jump while Chamika Jayamini came 01st in 3000m and 1500m Under 20 events. Pole Vaulter S. Thanusha of Arunodaya College, Jaffna is currently training in the UK as part of a special overseas programme.
Managing Director of JIC PLC, Prakash Schaffter said that the Company was delighted with the performance of these athletes. “As a corporate citizen we’re proud to sponsor Sri Lanka’s budding athletes and thus be instrumental in the country’s future success in athletics. They have all recorded outstanding and consistent performances during 2009 and 2010 and have remained unbeaten in their age group. I’m confident that they will reach greater heights in the years to come”.
Co-ordinator of the Janashakthi Athletic Sponsorship Project, Bertal Pinto-Jayawardena, General Manager – Finance & Planning, said, “This is yet another contribution from Janashakthi Insurance, towards nation building. It is our expectation that these athletes would bring pride to Sri Lanka on the international stage in the near future. They certainly have the potential and can do it”.
Janashakthi also has in employment three other outstanding National Athletes namely, Priyangika Madumanthi, T. Anusha and Amali Wijesinghe and takes pride in the fact that all of the Company employed Athletes and the 2009 sponsored Athletes have retained their places in the National Athletic Senior and Junior Pools with four of them namely, Madumanthi, Shashipraba, Nayomika and Nimesha having represented Sri Lanka at International level during 2009 and 2010.
Janashakthi is best known for its association with cricket, having sponsored several Sri Lankan test cricket series during the past few years also extended their support to several other sports at national level such as hockey, squash, sailing and golf thus reiterating its commitment to the long term development of sports in Sri Lanka.
Photo caption: (First Row – from left) Shashipraba Nirmani Jayasinghe, S. Thanusha, Hiruni Weerasekera, Chamika Jayamini, Nimesha Siriwardena and (Second Row – from left) Ishara Sandeepani Dayananda, Nayomika Gimhani Jayatilleke, Medani Wickramanayake, Pabasara Senanayake.