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Visakha wins National title after four year absence
After a four-year absence Visakha Vidyalaya made their presence felt in no uncertain terms at national level in Water Polo in the year 2003 and proved their skills once again.

On October 31 a tiring match of skills and strength took place and the result made history. The question that day was whether Air Force will pull it off and become the champions for four consecutive years or would Visakha prove them wrong?

The game dragged on for six long and agonizing quarters and when the final whistle blew the winner was decided in a penalty shoot out. The Visakhians emerged winners with a clinching a 4-3 win. By virtue of this victory they emerged proud holders of the title -- 'National Water Polo Women's Champions'.

The last time Visakha achieved this title was in 1998 under the captaincy of Chami Ranasinghe and since then did not participate in the tournament for various reasons.

Visakha has been actively taking part in tournaments since 1992 and has engaged in hard training to become who they are now. At the start they were mainly concentrating on Nationals and Inter-School matches, but as time went by and the captains changed their aims widened into tournaments such as Novices, Junior nationals, League matches and the under-21 championships.

In 1999 the team undertook challenges from other tournaments under the captaincy of Erandhi Fernando and their present coach Nawaff Mubarak changed their training patterns drastically. With a new coach pushing them on they were on their way towards victory, but it came one step at a time.

Some of their early achievements were in 1999 when they became the runners up in Inter-schools and Junior Nationals. In both tournaments they became second to Ladies College and the Visakhians realised that they were their main rivals. The year 2000 proved to be successful when Visakha won Novices for the first time. Yet they failed to achieve top place in Inter-schools as they became runners-up once again after losing to Ladies College.

Under Pasanga Abeywardana in 2001 they were able to achieve something they were thriving for since the very beginning. Visakha became, for the first time, Inter-school champions after beating Ladies College in a fierce and a memorable battle. A truly remarkable moment for them.

Captain Pasanga was with out doubt one of the greatest captains Visakha Water Polo has ever produced and with her leadership and will power they were on their way for higher goals.

The year 2002 was yet another successful year as they proved worthy of their school colours again by winning all tournaments that they took part in. Following up the Novices tournament with a fresh batch of Polo players Visakha was successful in winning the Novices Championship once again.

The team was led by Asangi Wijesundera as she followed their former captain's footsteps and led them to glory by winning Inter-schools in both; under-19 and under-15, and the Junior Nationals Tournaments. Captain Asangi was remarkable because she told them that "there are no miracles so don't believe in them, everything comes from a cause". And she proved her point by taking the team into new levels of the sport.

The year 2003 was yet another spectacular year for the Visakhians as they returned to the playing field of Nationals and proved themselves by reclaiming the title of National Women's Water Polo champions.

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