Munchee sponsors Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary Athletic Championship
Monday, 6 January 2014 00:00
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The Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary Inter Regiment Athletic Meet that was sponsored by Munchee successfully concluded at the Colombo Sugathadasa Stadium recently. This is the sixth consecutive year that Munchee has sponsored this athletic meet, which is the Sri Lanka Army key annual sporting event.
The Sri Lanka Army Athletic Committee that was established in 1950 organises this Championship annually, where almost a thousand athletes representing all 24 regiments of the army took part in this year’s championship.
A three day photography exhibition was held parallel to the championship at the Colombo Sugathadasa Stadium which was opened to the public for viewing. A collection of 170 photographs were on display of athletes who have brought merit to the Sri Lanka Army and the country as a whole.
The Sri Lanka Electronic and Mechanical Engineering army regiment’s Sajith Maduranga, who represented the javelin throw competition won the Best Male Athlete Munchee Challenge Trophy, while woman soldier U.K.N. Rathnayake of the 7th Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps who participated in the 1500 meter event won the Best Female Athlete Munchee Challenge Trophy at Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary Inter Regiment Athletic Meet that was held ceremoniously.
The Group Director and Head of Marketing and Sales of Ceylon Biscuits, Nanda Wickramage awarded the Best Male Athlete and Best Female Athlete with the Munchee Challenge Trophies. The Awards Ceremony was held under the patronage of Chief Guest Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne and the Sri Lanka Army Commander Major General Daya Ratnayake too was present at the event.
Major General Ratnayake commented on the athletic championship stating that the main intention of this championship is to uplift Members of the Army to compete on a National Level. He provided his salutations to Munchee for sponsoring the Championship for six consecutive years, and he further stated that Munchee has been consistently in the forefront of sponsoring sports in Sri Lanka including the national sport.Twenty-one athletes including Chaminda Wijeykoon, Prasanna Amarasekara, Nadeeka Lakmali, M.C. Dilrukshi, Rohitha Pushpakumara, R. D. U. S. Surendra, S. M. Safran, P. H. Chamal, Sachith Madhuranga and N. P. Gunathilaka, who have brought fame to Sri Lanka on an international level, also participated in this year’s championship.
On the first day of this 3-day Championship a new meet record of 57.57 m was set by National Javelin throw Champion Nadeeka Lakmali. She was awarded Overall Best Athlete at Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary Inter Regiment Athletic Meet. The athletes were able to set a total of nine new meet records of which seven were from Women’s events, while two were made in Men’s events. Wickramage commenting on the Main Sponsorship provided for the Sri Lanka Army 50th Anniversary Inter Regiment Athletic Meet said: “This can be seen as a corporate social contribution done by a Local company who is going beyond their commercial objectives to enhance the talents of war heroes. After the humanitarian mission a great amount of attention was given to the Army; however Ceylon Biscuit Ltd., understanding the importance of war heroes our extended the maximum support and sponsorship to these war heroes. This is clearly evident as Munchee has consistently sponsored this Championship six years in a row.”
Munchee has been supporting a variety of sports including athletics, volleyball and cricket as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), in order to uplift sports in Sri Lanka. Munchee has been constantly recognised at many National Awards Ceremonies for the CSR programmes that have been carried out in areas such as sports, education and village infrastructure, and the best example for this is the recently concluded SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2013 where Munchee won Gold for the Best CSR Brand of the Year.
