Olympic Day Run in Vavuniya
Chinthana WASALA
An area once was the ground for a long - lasting war, Vavuniya will
be in the spotlight for Olympic solidarity when this year’s Olympic Day
Run takes place there today at 3 pm with the participation of 1,000
schoolchildren from 50 schools in the Vavuniya District.
As a part of the commemoration of International Olympic Day which
falls on June 23, National Olympic Committees all over the world hold
the Olympic Run along with other activities such as educational and
cultural activities.
This year’s run and the other activities are organized by the
National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka in association with the
Vavuniya Government Agent, Sri Lanka Army, Northern Provincial Council
and the Ministry of Education in the Northern Province following
successful completion of last year’s activities which were held in
Jaffna.
The Olympic Day activities, including the four kilometer Olympic Day
Run, an Art competition, tree planting ceremony, PT Display culminating
with a cultural show followed by the distribution of certificates to
participants, awarded by the International Olympic Committee.
Cash awards will be given to first three competitors in the Art
competitions as an initiative taken to popularize the event among
schoolchildren.
Sri Lanka Telecom has come forward to sponsor this year’s event too
with Nestle as the sponsor for beverages. The NOC of Sri Lanka
acknowledges the contribution of Governor of the Northern Province Major
Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri. Government Agent of Vavuniya Mrs. P S M Charles,
Additional GA Siringana Sampanther, Divisional Sports Officer Raja
Ranasinghe, SL Army representative and the Zonal Director of Education
Colonel Kahagalle, and Vavuniya College of Education’s T M Devendran in
the work undertaken in organizing this event.
Since Sri Lanka’s first Olympic Day Run in 1990, the NOC has staged
the event in various provinces as a fun run to popularize Olympics, to
make people aware of the Olympics and to take the Olympics’ Message to
the world. |
