Sports

Sports

It's a Thomian affair!
By M. Shamil Amit
The month of October 2004 is going to be an historic one for the Thomians of Mt Lavinia, Bandarawela, Guruthalawa and Kollupitiya as the inaugural sports quadrangular involving these four long standing institutions will be launched and it is going to be an annual event!

The inaugural event will be a three-day affair beginning on October 15 and ending on October 17 with two day's allocated for sports which is the main part of the quadrangular to be hosted by the Thomians from Mt Lavinia.

The Warden of S. Thomas' College Mt Lavinia Dr. David Ponniah speaking on behalf of the organizers stated that an event of this nature was the need of the hour to strengthen the ties of the present and old boys of the four schools. He further stated that the introduction of athletics, badminton, soccer and basketball to the inaugural quadrangular was only just the beginning and we intend to expand this later on. This will also be a first among schools to hold an event of this magnitude and another fact is that S.Thomas' College is the only college that has three branch schools. Competition among the four schools will also provide an opportunity for the four schools to develop their skills and talents that will create benefit to the four schools. The warden was grateful to Bertal Pinto Jayawardena the chairman of the organizing committee who initiated this programme about five months ago and worked tirelessly to make this a reality.

He said this is something unique and special as the Thomians from Mt Lavinia being the oldest (153 years) followed by Thomians from Kollupitya (66 years) and the Thomians from Bandarawela and Guruthalawa (both 63 years), this will be the first time in the history that the four schools are getting together, though students from these schools kept on shifting to either schools at different times.

Approximately 450 students from the four schools have entered for the various individual and team events. A number of trophies are on offer to the winners of each sporting category plus age group championship trophies for the best performer in the athletics events. The overall championship will be awarded based on points earned in all events of all age groups upto the Under 17 category and the winner will receive the Bishops Challenge Trophy

The schedule programme for the three days:
October 15 - Events commence at 1.30 p.m. with the Badminton tournament for the Under 13, 15, 17 and 19 which end with finals on the same day. The preliminary matches of the soccer and basketball tournament for Under 17 players will be conducted concurrently. In the evening at 7.30 p.m. a campfire and dinner for all participants is being planned. The campfire is being hosted by the scouts of S. Thomas' Mt Lavinia and supported by the scouts of the other three institutions.

October 16 - 8.00 a.m. Formal opening ceremony with the lighting of the flame for the games and oath taking by the competitors. 9.00 a.m. Commencement of athletics events and soccer finals. 10.00 a.m. Basketball finals. The athletics programme will conclude with 4 x 400 invitation for men's club and the 4 x 100 relay for girls.

Prize distribution and closing ceremony will be at 5.00 p.m. with the chief guest at the ceremonies being Rt-Rev. Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo who is also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the four institutions. The closing ceremony will be preceeded by a band display by the bands of three schools which will be followed by a fellowship dinner at the club grounds with a band and a DJ in attendance.

The sports quadrangular will come to an end on October 17 with a communion service at 7.30 a.m. at the chapel of the transfiguration followed by breakfast at the famous dining hall of S.Thomas' Mt Lavinia.

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