Pandateruppu Girls High School – Jaffna and St, Joseph College – Maradana emerged girls’ and boys’ champions respectively in the All Island Under-14 Inter-Schools Soccer Championship sponsored by the Plenty Foods’ ‘Samaposha’ brand for the ninth successive time and concluded at the Race Course grounds recently.
Jaffna girls displayed a superb teamwork to rout much fancied Kurunegala Maliyadewa Balika Vidyalaya 2-0 in the girls’ final while Joes edged out Gateway International College, Rajagiriya 3-0 in the boys’ final. Maliyadewa Balika maintained a superb record since the inauguration of this tournament and has qualified for the final in six occasions. But the under dogs Jaffna lasses left no room for their Kurunegala opponents to steal the crown this year. The Gateway International College, Rajagiriya will mark the first ever international school presence at a final of this tournament’s history.
Krishanthi Rajendra from Pandateruppu Girls High School was adjudged the girls’ Best Player and her schoolmate Sharmila Suriyakumar was awarded as the Best Goal-keeper. Mahajana College, Jaffna secured the girls’ third place.
Pathum Gimhana of St, Joseph’s College was picked as the boys’ Best Player while Thisula De Silva of Gateway International College was awarded the boys’ Best Goal-keeper award. De Mazenod College, Kandana won the boys’ third place.
Over 10,000 school children from 548 schools across the island vied for honours at this year’s edition. Altogether 30 boys’ teams and 21 girls’ teams lined up for the preliminary round matches. Qualifying matches were held at five locations in Colombo.
Shammi Karunaratne, Director/CEO of Plenty Foods said: “As a company dedicated to encouraging young people to achieve excellence in sports and enjoy an active lifestyle that ensures good health and fitness, we take great pride in sponsoring the under 14 Inter-School Football Championship and are please to congratulate this year’s champions.
The Chairman of the Football Federation, Anura De Silva said: “We greatly appreciate the important role CBL plays as a long standing sponsor. This has contributed significantly to uplifting sports in Sri Lanka and inspiring school children to focus on sports that will help building a healthy nation.”
The Senior Managers at CBL Penty Foods, Shammi Karunaratne (Director/CEO) together with Theja Peiris (COO), Jayanga Perera (General Manager, Marketing), V.P. Govinna (Brand Manager) and Sisira Gunawardane (Promotions Manager) were also present at the award ceremony.
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