Ananda wins Centenary Oars Trophy
 

by Leslie Fernando

Ananda crew comprising of Ruchira Jayatilaka, Nimantha Hewagama, Sanjeewa Abeywardena, Gayan Jayaratne and Yashoda Suriyapperuma rowed with tremendous power and strength to win the Men's Intermediate Fours and carry away the prestigious Centenary Oars Trophy at the South West Monsoon Regatta held on the Beira Waters yesterday.

Anandians defeated the crew of S. Thomas (Rajitha Wickremasekera, Devaan Hallock, Sakya Kalupathirana, Manil Salgado and Yanik Salgado) with comfortable ease 'clocking' 3.44 secs.

The timing by the winners is a vast improvement compared to last year's winners Royal timing of 4.18 secs. Ananda had more success when the 17-year-old Gayan Jayaratne who is selected to row for Sri Lanka at the Asian Junior Rowing Championships in Singapore next month showed real skills to win the Men's Intermediate Scull event defeating Manoharan Niroshan of S. Thomas' with a time of 4.05 secs. Jayaratne was presented the Wardrop Sculls Trophy.

The Men's Coxless pair event for Stubs Quich Shield was won by Royal 'A' (Oshan Weerasinghe and Malik Aziz) defeating the colleagues Gishan Karunanayake and Dinouk Perera of Royal 'B' in the final. The winners timed 3.34 secs.

Ladies 'A' crew retained the Ladies Junior Four title and took away the Ladies Junior Fours Trophy with a win over their 'B' side with a time of 4.29 secs. Ladies 'A' crew were Amayi Mandawala, Denise Koch, Senuri de Silva, Amenthi Weerasinghe, Minuri Amarasuriya. The 'B' crew was represented by Tanya Lenaduwa, Anjali Mandawala, Sarani Jayawardena, Amaya Jayasuriya and Chrruti Peiris.

The Senior Fours even was a home and home affairs with Colombo Rowing Club 'A' defeating the CRC 'B' crew timing 4.01 secs.