The 33rd Annual All Island School Games 2017 will be conducted by the Education Ministry’s Health and Physical Unit is scheduled to commence tomorrow and will come to a close on 15th of October.
The Games will officially be declared open by Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe at the Royal College Sports Complex and on the final day President Maithripala Sirisena will be the chief guest at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Complex in Diyagama. This year’s Games will see 39,000 School children compete in 29 disciplines to be worked off at 48 centers around Colombo. These details were disclosed to the media at a press briefing held at the Education Ministry Auditorium on Wednesday.
Addressing the media the Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said that all school children participating are the future sportsmen and women of Sri Lanka. It is the school that brings them to the field of sports from their young age. With this in mind the Ministry has included sports as a vocational training subject. This not only helps the children to become sports stars but also produce coaches for different sports at large, he said.
He further added that with the introduction of the Insurance scheme the school children participating at these events too are highly benefited. It will help them to compete without any hindrance as they too are covered by the Insurance scheme. He also said that he hopes to
introduce another special fund to help the children who are suffering from terminal illnesses like cancer and other ailments which need huge amounts of money for treatment and parents who are unable to find the required sum for medication. I am sure this scheme will help poor families to cure their children.
Special Advisor on Sports to the Minister of Education, Sunil Jayaweera said that this All Island School Games is the one that find real talents of children from the grass root level. School the main intention of the Games is to give the opportunity for young ones to showcase their skills and improve on it.
The Education Department can only lift the talented up to a certain level during their school career. Once they leave the school the other sports organizations should pick these young talented people and help them to reach the national level.
Present day we see the decline of sports. It is left for the sports bodies to pick future champions at these games and help them to reach world standards in their chosen fields of sport. If this is done systematically sports in Sri Lanka is sure reach higher levels in the international scene.
He also stated that this year the organizers for the first time have included Rugby sevens for boys and Beach volleyball for this year Games. The Education Department also hopes to introduce cricket from next year . Considering the present situation of cricket in Sri Lanka the Department has decided to introduce the game with the intention of finding talent from grass root level, said Jayaweera.
In the recent past Beach Volleyball has become a sport that brought honor to the country.
The beach volleyball players too can be found through schools if we take the sport seriously along with School Games. Rugger is also a sport very popular among young generation and seen many taking on to the sport. All national players were the players who represent Sri Lanka if we can produce more to take to this sport it will be of great value for the sport said Jayaweera.
All track and field events will be worked off at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Complex in Diyagama where the final ceremony is to take place. For track and field events a total of 6300 competitors will be in battle for supremacy.
With tough completion more records sure to tumble during the Games specially in the field of Athletics. Events are to take place in 48 venues around Colombo Area. Volleyball and Beach Volleyball will be played in Damissara MMV courts and Negombo Beach respectively.