Gateway College continued its dominance in soccer by emerging as Champions of the Under 15 age group and the second runner-up in the Under 13 age group at the Inter International Schools Competition.
At Under 15, on course to reclaiming the championship trophy, Gateway’s powerful midfield and forward line overpowered all their opponents by scoring a record breaking 34 goals.
Samunu Kaggodaarachchi and Areeb Atheek top scored with 11 goals each. Gateway has now won the Under 15 title three times in the last four years. The tournament that was organized by the Royal Institute saw much interest among the boys of all leading International Schools in Sri Lanka.
At the Under 15 final, Gateway beat Lyceum Nugegoda 4-2 on a penalty shootout after the sides tied 1-1 at the final whistle. Thaqi Riza was the solitary scorer for Gateway. At the Semi Final, Gateway beat Lyceum Panadura: 8-0 (Areeb Atheek scored 4 and Samunu Kaggodaarachchi, Malidu Gallage, Samithu Jayasinghe and Isa Fahim scored I each). At the quarters Gateway beat the British School in Colombo 4-0 (Thaqi Riza scored 2 and Areeb Atheek and Thinula De Silva scored a goal each).
In the preliminary stage, Gateway overcame Royal Institute 15-1 (Samunu Kaggodaarachchi scored 7, Areeb Atheek scored 5 and Jun Kurera, Thaqi Riza and Isa Fahim scored a goal each), Lyceum Wattala 3-0 (Samunu Kaggodaarachchi scored all 3) and Gateway College Kandy 3-1 (Areeb Atheek, Thaqi Riza and Thinula De Silva scored 1 each).
Captain Samunu Kaggodaarachchi was awarded best player of the tournament for his commanding display in midfield, proving to be both an obstacle in defence and a fine finisher and scoring 7 goals in one match against Royal Institute. In the Under 13 Plate Final Gateway received a walk over as Lyceum Nugegoda was not permitted play by the tournament organizers. Both the semi final and the quarter final went into penalty shootouts when the sides finished scoreless. At the semis Gateway beat the British School in Colombo by 4-3 and at the quarters they beat Royal Institute 3-1. In the group game Gateway beat Lyceum Panadura 3-0
(Yoosuf Nazme, Inas Iqbal and Adnan Rauff scored a goal each).