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by Sarath Malalasekera

"The Old Josephian sportsmen boast of a glorious past and are lamenting over the present average achievements of their Alma Mater.

Times have changed and the conditions are so difficult now. Those days a very few westernised and Christianity based schools played prestigious games such as cricket, rugger and tennis.

There were no Central or National Schools existing at that time. But as times changed more and more schools both in the cities and the suburbs and even in the villages are producing fine sportsmen and now they take part in all these sports activities", said Rector Fr. Victor Silva at the Josephian Colours Nite held at the College Sports Complex Auditorium recently.

A former Josephian cricket captain, Aitken Spence Plantation (Pvt) Limited's, Managing Director and a distinguished old Joe, Rohan Fernando was the chief guest while Ms. Lorinta Fernando distributed the awards to the winners at the Colours Nite.

Now as there is keener participation and better competition, students of a school participates in sports merely for the sake of sports.

There was thrill and fun in it. But now, often it is a mini-war or a prestige battle. Professionalism has crept in. Sports achievements require great skills, competence and excellence, Fr. Victor Silva said.

'At St. Joseph's College we hold the colours day customarily once in two years.

This maybe an occasion for all those involved in Josephian sports activities to analyse, to evaluate our performances, plan future activities and work out strategies to be more competitive and to achieve excellence, the Rector said and added everything with our sports is not gloomy. There are silver lines among the dark clouds.

The Rector appealed to old and present Joes, to resolve to re-dedicate themselves for the glory of the Josephian Sports. 'Our teams should rejuvenate and revitalise to perform at a higher level.

"To honour those who have brought fame and glory to the College as well as to the country is an encouragement to the players", said Rohan Fernando.

The chief guest emphasised that Josephians should maintain the highest standard of sports set by the elders and produce more outstanding sportsmen in the years to come.

The Sportsman of the year 2000 was won by Ian Daniel, who represented the Sri Lanka "A' Cricket team and the Sportsman of the year 2001 was won by Rumedha Madigasekera, a national swimmer who represented Sri Lanka swimming team in the Pre-SAF games in Pakistan.

Over 125 Josephians who excelled in sports activities were awarded certificates of merit and colours for the year 2000 and 2001.

Spectacular achievement of Josephians award was received by Amila Perera, who represented Sri Lanka in the Asian Athletic Championship held in Sri Lanka 2002.

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