The Sri Lanka Schools Aquatic Sports Association held a press conference last evening to announce the commencement of the 44th Annual Sri Lanka Schools All Island Age Group Aquatic Championship 2017.
The evening was graced with the presence of the President of the Association Mr Y. N. D. P. Yapa along with the Secretary of the Association Mr R. M. Krishan Duminda and representatives of the sponsoring organisation Milo.
The tournament has been scheduled to commence on the 29th of June at the Sugathadasa Stadium swimming pool. The events of this year’s championship have been scheduled to go on until the 2nd of July, with the diving events to be held on the 30th of June and 1st of July.
There will be 164 events throughout the course of the 4 days which include 140 individual events and 24 relay events of age groups from under 9 up to under 19. This year there has been 82 boy’s schools that have applied with about 1820 registered participants and 52 girl’s schools that have applied with 1108 registered participants while another 46 mixed schools have also been registered creating severe competition and making it a tough task for one school to rise to the top as champions of 2017.
This year’s edition of the tournament has a unique aspect as awards up to 3rd place will be given out to the under 9, 11 and 13 age groups as well which wasn’t done in previous years. The Aquatic Sports Association also wished to convey that they have taken all necessary safety precautions when organising this year’s tournament and the premises has been equipped with trained lifeguards and ambulances standing by in case of any emergencies.
The tournament can be successfully organised this year as well since Nestle Milo has come on board as the sponsor for the 24th consecutive year partnering along with the Ministry of Education.
This year the Aquatic Sports Association has conducted programs to sustain aquatic sports and harness the talent beyond the limits of Colombo. Such programs were conducted in Ampara and they wish to carry out similar programs in Anuradhapura and Jaffna as well.
The champions last year in the boy’s category, was St. Joseph’s College Maradana and the girl’s category was Mahamaya Girl’s School Kandy. Head on over to the Sugathadasa Stadium from the 29th onwards to see if these two schools can retain their title.
