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| Sunday, 12 January 2003 |
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Held after a lapse of 4 years, not only have these two enterprising teens won the trophy which is a first for Sri Lanka, they have also proved that Girl Power really exists. In case you are wondering, the twosome were the only all girl team in the competition(the rest were all boy-boy teams, with the exception of Bangladesh which fielded a boy-girl team). Posing with their glittering golden trophies, the two teens are eager to share what they call "The most amazing life experience ever". Being selected from their respective schools(Gimara from Holy Family Convent and Nizla from Bishop's College) the two first participated in the all island SLBC Radio Quiz held in July 2002. A written test was followed by an interview and two weeks later the two were selected to represent Sri Lanka in the competition. "It was during the quiz the two of us met. Coincidently we took an instant liking to each other and when we were informed that we were chosen for the finals, one of our first questions were who was the other person. We were happy to know it was the two of us", they say in unision.
On 19 December Gimara and Nizla left for Islamabad with their co-ordinator and upon arrival were met by Mujtaba Aamer, the head of training and overseas liaison of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation(PBC). The first order of duty in Islamabad...PHONE their WORRYING MUMS of course. Once that duty attended to, they got about settling down at the Holiday Inn, in which they saw quite a number of Pakistani weddings. Dinner that night was hosted by the Secretary of the Minister of Information and Media Development in honour of the delegates. The evening they say "Was a lot of fun. We did our PR and got to know the other delegates. We made new friends". And on to the Quiz session the next morning. What was the waiting like? Any butterflies in the stomach? "It was terrible. We were so nervous we couldn't concentrate on our breakfast like the others appeared to be doing. Our hands were shaking so much, so that we couldn't hold our plates. We had to keep them on the table and force ourselves to eat. It was pretty nerve wracking", they say. Taking their place in the auditorium with the other eight participants, two from each of the SAARC countries excluding Bhutan and Maldives, the quiz began with an interlude between each round for some folk-music entertainment from all participating countries. Having successfully completed round one and two which were on the SAARC association and the SAARC countries, in which Gimara and Nizla answered all their questions correctly, which they say was like a dream, they proceeded to round three which was a general knowledge quiz. This the two teens say was the most difficult round of all. They gave the wrong answers to two of the questions, and in a tight competition feared that Pakistan, would overtake them. However, much to the glory of all Sri Lankans they won with a total of 80 points.
Happy with their victory, Gimara and Nizla together with the other delegates were later taken on a tour of the city, which included the highest point in Islamabad and the grand Faizal Mosque, which was shaped like a Bdwuin Tent and could hold a congregation of 300,000 people. The last thing they did before departing was getting the e-mail addresses of everyone. So how would they describe their experience in a few words? "Amazing! We met different people. Made new friends. Won. Gulped down the most delicious food in the world and represented our country. It was truly amazing!". By Farah Macan Markar |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Full
of life, bubbly, sparkling with enthusiasm, self confident and self
assured. That would describe the winners of the 4th SAARC Radio
Quiz-18-year-old Gimara Goonawardena and 17-year-old Nizla Naizer.
The
run-up to the finals were months of immense preparation. "We had no
idea what to expect. We had an idea that they might ask us something about
the SAARC association and SAARC countries but beyond that we had to be
prepared for just about anything", they say. Determined to arm
themselves with every bit of information available the two spent a lot of
time together, going to each others' houses, burying themselves in various
books and magazines, surfing through a number of sites(the SAARC sites
were not enough), using a fact finder and even going to the various
embassies and trying to fish information (which however was not very
successful as they were just given brochures and did not get anything
beyond that).
Pakistan
became runners-up with 70 points. Gimara says, "It seemed so unreal
when we kept answering all the questions correctly with the exception of
two. When in the end we saw our total toppling every other, it was
unbelievable. We knew then we had won. But we felt as if we were in a
dream". An being awarded their trophies from the Director General of
the PBC, everyone congratulated them, including the mothers of the
Pakistani delegates, who in a way seemed very happy that two girls had
beaten all boys and come up to the top, showing everyone what a woman can
do and where a woman ought to be."They seemed so genuinely happy that
we two girls won" recalls Nizla.
