Milo All Island Schools Netball Championship Familians Kurunegala emerge Milo Netball Queens for the 13th successive year

The champion Holy Family Convent teams posing for a picture after receiving the Milo Trophy which they won for the 13th successive time 

The four best players Rehansa Thisumli Wijeratne, Nethuni Dhananjaya, Akithma Linduli Abeysinghe and Tania Gunasekera posing for a picture with chief guest Susil Premjayantha, Minister of Education and the officials after receiving their awards (Pictures by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe)  

By M. Shamil Amit

Holy Family Convent Kurunegala emerged the Milo All Island Schools Netball champions for the 13th successive year when they bagged the overall champions’ title at the 29th Milo All Island Schools Netball Championship concluded at the Albert F. Peiris Stadium in Wennappuwa.   

The champion Convent girls came out on top in all the age groups of Under 13, 15, 17 and 19.   

On their way to winning the championship the Familians overcame Maliyadeva BV Kurunegala while in the Under 15 category they got the better of Sri Devananda MV Ambalangoda. In the Under 17 age group too they beat Maliyadeva BV and outclassed Kalutara BV in the Under 19 category to end up with a whopping 80 points with Maliyadeva BV way back in second with 40 points followed by Kalutara BV with 20 points.   

In fact this was the third time that they bagged the championship by coming out on top in all the age groups with the previous two being in 2010 and 2012.   

Apart from winning the championship title they also succeeded to bag all the four best players awards with Rehansa Thisumli Wijeratne the Under 13, Nethuni Dhananjaya, the Under 15, Akithma Linduli Abeysinghe, the Under 17 title which she won for the third successive year and Tania Gunasekera the Under 19.   

The Familians were first crowned the netball queens in the year 2008 when it was held in their hometown Kurunegala and then retained the title in 2009 at Anuradhapura followed it up by clinching the title in Matale 2010, Matara 2011, Polonnaruwa 2012, Piliyandala 2013, Beliatta 2014, Matale 2015, Matara 2016, Badulla 2017, Kandy 2018 and in their hometown Kurunegala when it was last held in 2019.   

Meanwhile in the Division ‘B’ segment Buwanekapura MMV Maharagama defeating Padeniya Sinnanda MV to take the Under 13 title, Sujatha BV Matale overcoming Mahinda MV Gettuwana to emerge Under 17 champion and Mahinda Gettuwana MV made amends by getting the better of Katapathwehera MV Kurunegala to emerge the Under 19 champion.   

Results:

Under 13 – Holy Family Convent Kurunegala beat Maliyadeva BV 9-6, Under 15 – Holy Family Convent Kurunegala beat Sri Devananda MV Ambalangoda 28-10, Under 17 – Holy Family Convent Kurunegala beat Maliyadeva BC 32-24, Under 19 – Holy Family Convent Kurunegala beat Kalutara BV 27-13