Mirror Magazine

 

On top of the world...
Two Colombo schoolgirls, Gimara Goonewardena and Nizla Naizer did their motherland proud recently.

Gimara, a pupil at Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya, and Nizla who studies at Bishop's College, were Lanka's representatives at the 4th SAARC Radio Quiz, held in December 2002 at the Headquarters of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The Radio Quiz was organised by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation in collaboration with the SAARC Secretariat after a lapse of four years. Two participants were selected to represent each country and Gimara and Nizla were selected after gruelling rounds of written tests and interviews organised by the SLBC.

It was a surprise, they say, when they were notified that they had been chosen to represent the country for the competition, which was to be held in Islamabad.

However, they prepared enthusiastically for the tough event ahead of them. The run-up to the finals saw months of immense preparation. They were determined to arm themselves with every bit of information about the SAARC association and the SAARC countries and most importantly, general knowledge, which meant absolutely anything!

Preparing was a mammoth task and it meant searching the Internet and visiting embassies.

The quiz comprised of three rounds and it had seemed surreal when they realised that they had managed to answer all the questions in the first two rounds. This gave them a winning total of 880 points, with the Pakistani team coming a close second.

Gimara and Nizla were ecstatic when they realised that they had won. "It was noteworthy that we were the only all-girl delegation, which made it that extra bit special for not only us, but for the Pakistani women, who also seemed very happy that we had somehow managed to beat the guys!" they added.
- Thiruni Kelegama


Back to Top  Back to Mirror Magazine  

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster