Six Gateway Griffins receive Golden Eagle Awards for representing the country

Three hundred and eighty girls and boys received merit, colours and special awards for their outstanding achievements in the field of sports at the annual Colors Nite of the Gateway Group of Schools held at the Auditorium of the Ave Maria Convent, Negombo.   

Consequent to the introduction of the school’s mascot in 2018, students representing Gateway in sports are referred to as ‘Gateway Griffins’.   
The event saw students of Gateway Colleges in Colombo, Kandy, Negombo, Dehiwala and Ratmalana receive awards for athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, eSports, football, karate, netball, rowing, swimming, tennis, squash, table tennis, archery and kayaking.   

Basketballer Sharo Perera, who captained Sri Lanka at the FIBA Under 18 3x3 Asian Basketball Championship 2022, footballer Samunu Kaggodaarachchi, who represented the country at the Under 19 South Asian Football Championship 2022 and became the first footballer to represent Sri Lanka from an International school, Nabeel Nazar who represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Chess Championship and World Chess Olympiad, scrabbler Ilham Irshad who represented Sri Lanka at the World Scrabble Championship and badminton stars Rashmi Mudalige and Natasha Gunasekara who represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Junior Badminton Championships 2022 shared the Golden Eagle award, the highest award for sports stars at Gateway.   

Professor Udaya Rathnayake, the vice chancellor of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka was the Chief Guest.   
The Guests of Honour included Sri Lanka’s 400m National Champion, Aruna Darshana, Technical Director and Head Coach Sri Lanka Rowing Pedro Sanz, Assistant Director Ministry of Sports Thilak Aponsu, Sri Lankan representatives in basketball, netball and swimming, Niroshini Paiva, Gayani Dissanayake and Shenali Weerawansa respectively.