Schools Swimming and Diving Championship from June 23-26

Anuradha ABEYSEKERA

Sri Lanka Schools Aquatic Association in collaboration with the Education Ministry will conduct the 38th Schools' Swimming and Diving championships from June 23 to 26 at the Ananda College swimming pool, Colombo. Nestle Lanka Plc, the distributor of 'Milo' will sponsor the championship. It was revealed to the Media during a press conference held at CR & FC auditorium on Thursday recently.

The championship is considered to be one of the most popular among school sports events from which the country was able to bring in many talented swimmers to the limelight during the past 37 years. It also claims an uninterrupted continuity throughout the history.

More than 1800 swimmers from Western, Central, North Western, Southern and North Central provinces will participate in this year's competition, representing government, private and international schools. They will compete in six age categories namely Under-9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. There will be 140 individual events with the participation of 1012 boys and 802 girls. Over 340 teams will take part in group relays and where164 events will be conducted in this year's competition.

The reigning boys and girls champions are St. Joseph's College, Colombo and Mahamaya College, Kandy. They will fight to retain their top positions but will face a tough challenges from the other schools.

Speaking at the media briefing, Sri Lanka Schools' Sports Director General and Sri Lanka Schools' Aquatic Sports Association (SLSASA) President Rohana Karunaratna appreciated the Media's role in encouraging the budding talents of youngsters. He also emphasized the importance of popularizing aquatic sports in the island. "Even though we have many water resources which can be used to practice swimming there is less enthusiasm among the school children to take part in the sport due to various reasons.