University of Colombo - Men's Cager Champions

Year 2005 was a golden year for University of Colombo basketball with both men and women making to the final. The men's team clinching the title after more than a decade. The tournament was held at the gymnasium of University of Peradeniya with 10 universities participating in this year despite the exams that took place during this time.

The University of Colombo Men's Basketball team was able to clinch the title by thrashing University of Peradeniya in the final by a massive margin of 21 points.

Despite the fact that the venue was over crowded with Peradeniya supporters, the Colombo University cagers kept their cool, showed their class & it was clearly obvious that no team was able to match their tallent & teamwork. As a result, Colombo University Men's cagers won the title being undefeated team throughout the tournament. Final score was 66-45.

For the winners Aravinda Kamaladasa (16 points), Rifath Maharoof (13), Aruna Jeewantha (13), Madawa Wijesiriwardena (10) and Bogika Panditharatne (8) were the top contributors where as KWLN Indika (18) and Dhammika Shriyananda (14) scored the most for the losers.

In the semi-finals UoC beat university of Kelaniya 69-62. In the Quarter finals the score ended as 39-18 favouring UoC over Eastern University. In the group matches, UoC beat University of Jaffna 57-38 and University of Sabaragamuwa 38-13.

The University Men's team was led by Bogika Panditharatne, a Computer Science Special final year student from the Faculty of Science, as well as a former Captain of D. S. Senanayake College. Rifath Maharoof, a final year student from the Science Faculty, a former Sri Lanka Youth basketball player who represented country in overseas tournaments as well as a former vice captain of D. S. Senanayake College served as the vice captain of the team.

Both teams were coached by Smapath Herath, a reputed college coach in the country and a member of the Police basketball team played a major role in reaching this milestone.

The team comprised Bogika Panditharatne (Faculty of Science), Rifath Maharoof (Science), Sachithra Samarasinghe (Science), Asitha Zoysa (Law), Dulitha Hewadikaram (Science), Suraj Hettiarachchi (Science), Madawa Wijesiriwardena (Law), Aravinda Kamaladasa (Medicine), Varuna Gamage (Science), Jude Chrishantha (Management and Finance), Aruna Jeewantha (Management and Finance) and Maduranga Perera (Arts).

Last year, UoC lost to University of Peradeniya in the semi-finals by 1 point in the dying moments and were placed 3rd. Last year's defeat clearly showed evidence how hard they worked on their game, pure determination and the commitment lead them to this year victory and it's simply a very good example to everyone how to come back strong and achieve your primary goal.

The Women's Basketball team of the University of Colombo sadly lost the championship title by four baskets after 5 consecutive years and emerged runners-up at the Inter-University Basketball Tournament.

This effort however is to be praised as the tournament was played in the middle of UoC examinations, with students shuttling from Colombo-Peradeniya throughout. The team also missed Dharshini Munasinghe and Tharanga Paranawitharana, who were a large part of the University Basketball team.

UoC entered the final after summarily defeating Sabaragamuwa University (28-01), Moratuwa University (29-05), and Eastern University (73-27). They were defeated at the final by Kelaniya University by four baskets (68-62).

The team comprised Suzie Beling, Rosy Vancuylenburg, Rasika Jeewani, Fathima Nizar, Sanjeevani Perera, Vindya de Silva, Imali Subasinghe, Sewwandhi Senarathne and Vashni Abeyrathne. The top scorers in the final were, Fathima Nizar (19), Sanjeevani Perera (14), Rosy Vancuylenburg (13), Suzie Beling (8), Vindya de Silva (4), Imali Subasinghe (2), and Rasika Jeewani (2).

The University team also emerged runners-up in the B-Division of the Colombo Super League tournament.