Best athlete title goes to Point Pedro for the first time

John Tarbet Junior Athletic Championships

September 19, 2015, 7:35 am 

Balachandran Ananth (left) of Hartley College, Point Pedro and Prasadi Lakshani of Holy Cross College, Gampaha with their awards.
 (Pic by Kamal Wanniarachchi)

by Reemus Fernando

An athlete from Point Pedro won the best athlete title of the John Tarbet Junior Athletic Championships for the first time at Anuradhapura on Friday.

Sri Lanka Schools Athletic Association officials praised the efforts of Balachandran Ananth of Hartley College, Point Pedro and Prasadi Lakshani of Holy Cross College, Gampaha after they were declared the best athletes in the boys’ and girls’ categories, respectively, at the four-day championship which concluded with St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena and St. Joseph’s Balika, Kegalle winning the overall titles on Friday.

"Balachandran Ananth is the first athlete from the entire Jaffna peninsula to have secured the best athlete title in a Sir John Tarbet Athletic Championships," an official of the SLSAA told The Island in a telephone interview from Anuradhapura.

"Both Balachandran and Lakshani did really well. They deserve praise," he said.

Ananth won the title for his feat of 45.91 metres in the Under-15 discus throw.

Prasadi Lakshani won the award for the best jumper of the meet and the best athlete title in the girls’ category for her feat of 5.32 metres in the Under-15 long jump.

Sandumini Chaviprabashi Bandara of St. Joseph’s Balika, Kegalle won the Under-15 girls’ 400 metres in 60.9 seconds to earn the award for the best 400 metres runner of the meet according to results released by the Sri Lanka Schools Athletics Association.

Her victory in the 400 metres meant that St. Joseph’s won all sprint events in the Under-15 girls’ category. She was also the winner of the 200 metres (Wednesday). The Under-15 100 metres was won by her teammate T.M.M. Piumini Weerasooriya who clocked 13.5 seconds. St. Joseph’s dominance in sprint events was the key for them to win the Overall Girls championship. They aggregated 69 points. Ladies College with 39 points and Lyceum International Wattala with 37 points were the first and second runners up in the girls’ category.

Although St. Benedict’s did not win many golds they managed to aggregate more points by securing several silver and bronze medals. The Bens collected 78 points to take the Overall Boys title. St. Mary’s College, Chilaw (62) and Royal College, Colombo (56) finished second and third.