By Susil Premalal

The 34th Athletics Championships of the All Island School Games will commence today at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo. The competition is a five day event and will end on October 5.

The tournaments are conducted by the Ministry of Education. The opening ceremony will be at 2.30 pm with  Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe as the Chief Guest.

After the opening ceremony there will be nine finals commencing at 4 pm. They are: High Jump under 12 Boys, Long Jump Under 12 Girls, Pole Vault under 20 Boys, Discus Throw under 16 Girls, Shot Putt under 20 Girls, Javelin Throw under 18 Boys, Triple Jump under 18 Girls, Long Jump under 16 Girls and High Jump under 20 Girls.

Over 6000 students are involved in the Athletics Championships. There are five categories- Under 12, Under 14,Under 16, Under18 and Under 20.

The Games Torch at the Opening Ceremony will be lit by Aruna Dharshana of Weerakeppitipola National School, Akuramboda and Amasha De Silva of Swarnamali Balika, Kandy. Aruna Dharshana is a 400 Metres Gold Medalist at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Japan. Amasha took four Gold Medals at the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Colombo in 2018.

Twenty nine sports are included in the All Island School Games. Twenty eight have so far been completed.