Asian International dominates event
Asian International School and St. Joseph’s Girls’ School Nugegoda dominated the Kobe Junior Cup 3×3 Basketball Tournament held last week at the Police Field Basketball Court at Thimbirigasyaya. The tournament was held from January 14 to 16 at the Police Court with the finals being played on the third day in front of a packed set of spectators.
Asian International School clinched the Boy’s Under-18 category while the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams of Gateway College Kandy clinched the second and third places respectively. Royal Institute beat Asian International School ‘A’ to win the Boy’s Under-16 title while Lyceum International School Nugegoda ‘A’ was placed third in the category. The Boy’s Under-14 category was clinched by Colombo International School, who overcame Royal College Colombo in the final. St. Joseph’s College Wattala ‘A’ finished at third.
St. Joseph’s GS Nugegoda qualified for both finals in the Girls’ category as they went on to claim the Under-18 age category in style. They beat Holy Family Convent in the final as St. Paul’s Girls’ School Milagiriya won the third place. Prior to the finals a friendly match between Brand Ambassadors and the All Stars were played for the thrill of the spectators. The Brand Ambassadors, namely Nitchula Liyanage, Arnold Brent and Kristina Solange were featured in the exhibition match played prior to the finals.
The tournament was observed by officials of the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation (SLBF), as its National Selection Committee picked 32 players for the All Stars Games, which is set to take place in February. The tournament featured around hundreds of cagers representing over 70 school teams from across Sri Lanka and was held under three age categories, three in boys and two in girls.
In addition a special entrepreneurial workshop for the members of the teams that reached the quarter-final stage was held on the second day of the tournament at the Achievers Lanka Business School to inspire the youngsters and further motivate them in their future endervours. The lecturer of the workshop was Samantha Gunasekara, the Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Retail.
The special guests of the awards ceremony were Chandana Liyanage (Vice President of SLBF), Duminda Silva (Selection Committee Member, SLBF), Christie Mariathasan (Treasurer, SLBF), Azad Lye (Managing Director of Achievers Lanka Business School) and Samantha Gunasekara (CEO of Phoenix Retail).
The tournament began on January 14 with the preliminary round matches, followed by the remaining preliminary round and the workshop on the following day. On the final day, the tournament continued from the quarter-final stage up to the finals. The three-day tournament was organised by Achievers Lanka Business School, under the guidance of Faris Ismail, its CEO and Chairman. - Pix by Ranjith Perera
