SriLankan Airlines unstoppable
SriLankan Airlines was unstoppable once again, as they retained the 30th Travel Trade Sports Club Men’s and Women’s Team Swimming Championships 2014, by a huge margin at the Thurstan College Pool recently. A total of 13 teams participated in 51 events.
SriLankan Airlines finished with 173 points and bagged six of the Best Performance awards out of nine.
Last year’s runners-up, the Combined Team of Walkers Tours and Whittalls Travels retained their second position with 63 points; Aitken Spence Travels came third with 36 points.
The meet was officiated by 12 officials from SLASU, including J.A.S. Somachandra (Chief Referee), R.K.S. Ratnayake (Referee) and N.K.R. Bamunuarachchi (Starter).
The meet was co-ordinated by Edward Van Dendrisen, who continuously participated in the meet for over 25 years until his retirement from Cinnamon Grand.
The event was sponsored by Akquasun Lanka for the third successive year.
The Awards were presented by Denesh Silva, President, Sadhana Vikrantha, Vice President, Chinthaka Daluwatte, Asst. Treasurer and Cammie Gunasekera, Committee Member, all from the Travel Trade Sports Club.
Special Awards
Novices Women : Janaki Fernando from SriLankan Airlines, who won a double, 25M Back (20.72) and the 25M Butterfly (17.75) and 2nd in the 4x25M IM (1.44.14)
Novices Men: Asitha Jayawardena from Walkers/Whittalls, who won a double, 25M Back (18.90) and the 4x25M IM (1.36.33) and second in 25M Free (14.71).
Championship /18 to 29 years
Women: Sithara Perera from Viluxur Holidays, who won a ‘triple’, the 50M Back (36.25), 50M Butterfly (35.24) and 4x25M IM (1.26.39).
Men: N. Nawfer from SriLankan Airlines, who won a ‘triple’, the 50M Breast (37.69), the 50M Butterfly (31.56) and the 50M Free (28.63)
Championship / 30 to 39 years.
Women: M.G.S. Kumarasinghe from SriLankan Airlines, who won a triple, the 25M Butterfly (27.43), the Back (32.78) and the 4x25M IM (2.46.24)
Men: Ravindra Premalal from Club Bentota, who won a triple, 25 M Back (17.20), 25M Free (13.86) and the 4x25M IM (1.24.43).
Championship / 40 to 49 years.
Men: R.K.V.M.S. Kumara from SriLankan Airlines, who won a “triple”, 25M Back (17.16), 25M Free (13.20) and the 4x25M IM (1.23.88)
Veterans
Women – Over-40 : Soraya Hussain from SriLankan Airlines who won a double, 25M Butterfly (26.25) and the 25M Free (29.93)
Men – Over-50: P.S.P. Dayananda from SriLankan Airlines, who won a triple, 25M Butterfly (18.88), 25M Back (20.90) and the 25M Free (16.05)
- Pic by Indika Handuwala