Defending title holders of the All Island Age Group Aquatics Championship St. Joseph’s College and Mahamaya Girls’ School Kandy are out to retain their titles as the 43rd Annual Sri Lanka Schools Age Group Aquatic Championships are set to start on the 23rd of June 2016 at the Sugathadasa Indoor Swimming Complex.
Organized for the 43rd occasion by the Sri Lanka Schools Aquatic Sports Association, the Age Group Aquatic Championship is the premiere school swimming event featuring the top-ranked swimmers from the schools around the country. A total of 164 events are set to take place with 140 individual and 24 relay events. The competition will run from the under 9-age category in both Boys’ and Girls’ up to the Under 19 age group. The tournament that will start on the 23rd will span over a duration of four days and is expected to conclude with the award ceremony on the 26th of June.
Empowering the Schools Aquatics championship for yet another is Milo Sri Lanka who have been the key sponsors for the event for the past two decades. Speaking at the press conference held to announce the launch of the 2016 championship, Assistant Vice-President Beverages at Nestle Lanka; NormanKannangara added the following:
“When we started the sponsorship, swimming was a sport that was sport limited to the elite section of society and over the years we were able to take the sport outside of Colombo and now we have the participation of schools from all around the country.”
This year’s championship will have a record participation of 1715 male swimmers as well as 1002 female swimmers. The numbers have seen a considerable rise in comparison to last year as a total of 179 schools will make their way to the Sugathadasa swimming pool in the coming week to compete for silverware. It is admirable to see the participation from the provinces of Eastern and North-Central Provinces this year with five schools will make their way from the East and eight schools will represent the North-Central.
Defending champions in the Boys category St. Joseph’s College have been winning the title since the year 2004. They will be eyeing their 13th consecutive title this year while the Girls’ winners Mahamaya Girls’ School will battle it out for their 18th consecutive championship title.
The opening ceremony of the 43rd edition will take place on the 23rd with the presence of Asoka Sarani Hewage who is the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Education. The Hon. Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam will grace the closing ceremony of the championship including the awards ceremony.
