Western Province on course to retain C’ship title

XXXIII National Sports Festival:

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Western Province took an early lead in their attempt to retain the President's Trophy and the overall title for another year by dominating the opening day's events at the 33rd National Sports Festival which got underway at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

Western Province have already bagged a total of 25 gold medals, 30 silver medals and 26 bronze medals while Central Province are currently placed second with 20 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 13 bronze medals. Meanwhile the North Western Province had collected eight gold medals, two silver medals and six bronze medals.

The 33rd National Sports Festival was declared open by Minister Maithripala Sirisena with the Minister of Sports and Recreation Gamini Lokuge and Sports Minister Bandula Basnayake as the guests of honour.

Earlier the Olympic Torch was lit by Sri Lanka's 400 metres national champion Rohan Pradeep Kumara and Samitha Kumari of netball fame.

The athletics oath was taken on behalf of the competitors by Ruwan Pradeep Perera and the officials oath was taken by H. E. T. Perera.

The Minister of Sports and Recreation Gamini Lokuge speaking at this occasion recalled the happy memories of the inaugural Games which was in fact worked off at the same venue in 1974.

Looking back at the Games history the Minister said that there has been some outstanding performances where top class athletes like Wimaladhasa and Rosa have emerged from the rural areas.

The Minister said that the present set of athletes have the privilege of competing on a new synthetic track unlike in the past and this has been a great opportunity for rural sportsmen and sportswomen to prove their capabilities.

The Minister of Sports and Recreation also noted that the National Sports Festival has been a place where several top athletes like Susathika Jayasinghe has made their mark in the past and hoped that this years meet will produce more records and better results.

Minister Lokuge said that this years National Sports Festival will see all sportsmen and sportswomen from the North and East also participating at one venue to build up a healthy competition and strong relationship between each other.

The Minister of Agriculture Maithripala Srisena speaking on the occasion said that this years Sports Festival is truly a national event because it represents sportsmen and sportswomen from the North and the East Provinces as well.

In fact among the 3303 competitors there are over 200 athletes representing these two areas. The Western Province Kabaddi team also made it to the semifinals with a rousing 85-46 victory over the North Western Province team.

In some of the earlier matches Uva Province defeated Central Province 28-17 and North Central Province had the better of Sabaragamuwa Province 38-12.

In the women's Kabaddi events Western Province beat North Central Province 44-20, Uva Province beat Eastern Province 41-21, Southern Province defeated Central Province 48-20 and North Western Province had the better of North Central Province 38-31.

In the Netball tournament Western Province recorded a massive 66-13 victory over Sabaragamuwa Province. In addition Southern Province outplayed Eastern Province 64-18 and Uva Province defeated North Central Province 55-38.

In the men's Badminton team events Southern Province routed Uva Province 3-0, Sabaragamuwa Province defeated Central Province 3-0, Uva Province beat Eastern Province 3-0 and North Western Province defeated Eastern Province 3-0.

A significant factor in this years National Sports Festival is that besides the customary trophies and certificates the winners of the respective events will be presented with cash awards.