Give priority to medal winning sports, says Arjuna
Former Sri Lanka cricket Skipper and National Sports Council Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga handing over the Sport Unleash Most Outstanding School Sports Personality of the Year award to Former National Athlete Talavou Alailima who is the title sponsor of the Sport Unleash Schools Sports awards at it’s launching ceremony held at Kingsbury Hotel yesterday. Thilan Rangana the Chairman of Sportsinfo and CEO Sportsinfo Nilakshi Ratnatunga also in the picture. (Picture by Chintaka Kumarasinghe)
The first ever Sportunlesh schools Sports awards ceremony conducted by Sportsinfo will be held next January 24. School athletes from ten sports including cricket, rugby, football, Netball, Athletics, Swimming, Basketball, Karate, Tennis, and Volleyball have recognised for the awards.
The title sponsor Talavou Alailima the former National athlete and chairman and MD of the Powerworld said this type of school awards ceremony boosts school athletes. 98 percent of school children are sans sports especially after the age of 15 while only two percent of school players are continuing the sports. Today most children are keen to play video games and are not willing to do outdoor sports. The Sportunlesh is going to boost school-level sports said Sportsinfo Chairman Thilan Rangana.
The National Sports Council Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga was the chief guest at the launching ceremony. Government, Sports, and Education Ministries have to join hands to conduct these type of events.
“I think we wanted to see a system change in Sri Lanka sports. Technology is important and school children’s involvement with sports is very less today. As a result, we find many students with health problems and if we can increase the number of sports students we can easily decrease the amount of money spent on health”.
“I knew cricket, Rugby have awards ceremonies but other sports do not have award ceremonies and these type of events are very important to encourage school players”.
“As the National Sports Council Chairman I have worked very closely with National sports bodies and it’s good to see their progress. We have to make plans and first, we have to recognise the medal-winning sports and give more facilities for that”, said Ranatunga.
Thilan Rangana the Chairman of Sportsinfo pointed out the importance of this level of awards ceremonies. The sports awards jury committee chairman Dr. Harsha Abeykoon said this is the time to cultivate a sports philosophy.
The medals and awards will be received by the winners while sports Excellence jury medals and sports contribution jury medals are also on offer.