Netball queen Tharjini Sivalingam was adjudged the Most Popular Sports Personality of the Year at the fifth annual SLT SILK Sports Awards ceremony which was held at the BMICH last week.“During my 10-year international netball career I have received so many awards but this award is very special because this one was a people’s choice. So I must thank SPORTSINFO the organizers and the sponsors Sri Lanka Telecom who have done a wonderful job for the fifth consecutive year,” said Tharjini.It also earned her the Tallest Netballer on the Planet title.
Sri Lanka Telecom Chairman Kumarasinghe Sirisena the special guest of honour at this event said that SLT was always happy to be involved in sports and hopes to continue with the ‘SILK Sports Awards annually’.“SLT is always willing to make a generous contribution to sports always and has plans to conduct the SLT sports festival again after a laps of 22 years,” added Sirisena. Arjuna Ranatunga the captain of the 1996 World Cricket Cup winning team was the chief guest at the ceremony. He pointed out the importance of a national sports policy to will help uplift the standard of sports in the country..
“When the Sports Minister is changed there are changes in so many departments in the ministry, but the sports policy should remain the same for sports to progress,” said Ranatunga who himself was the recipient of the Duncan White award five years ago.A veteran national sports administrator Sunil Jayaweera was recognized with a prestigious SLT SILK Lifetime Achievement Award.
Former Sri Lankan cricketer and ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama was also bestowed with the ‘Duncan White Award for Sports Excellence & Contribution’. Kumara Dharmasena the ICC elite panel cricket umpire won the award for the most outstanding contribution to international sports.Sri Lanka’s promising swimmer, Matthew Abeysinghe, the SAG seven gold medallist won the ‘Outstanding Sports Personality of the Year award while Nalanda cricket captain Laksitha Manasinghe was named as the Outstanding School Sports Personality of the year, following his record breaking performances in 2019. Abeysinghe is currently training in the USA and was not present to receive the award.The Special Jury was co-headed by Harsha Abeykoon and Rear Admiral Dr. Shemal Fernando.
Recipients of Major Sporting Awards:
SLT SILK Most Popular Sports Personality of the Year – Tharjini Sivalingam
SLT SILK Lifetime Achievement Award – Sunil Jayaweera
Duncan White Award for Sports Excellence & Contribution – Roshan Mahanama
SLT SILK Sportsman of the Year – Matthew Abeysinghe
SLT SILK Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sports Journalism – Dinesh Weerawansa
SLT SILK Outstanding School Sports Personality of the Year – Lakshitha Manasinghe
SLT SILK Team of the Year – Sri Lanka Deaf Cricket Team
SLT SILK Award for Outstanding Contribution to International Sports – Kumara Darmasena
SLT SILK Award for Outstanding Coach of the Year – RB Wickramasinghe
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