Olympian Gold Medallist Mahé says Sri Lanka rowing has great potential

Thursday, 25 October 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Gold Medallist at the 2012 London Olympics Mahé Drysdale declared in Colombo yesterday: “Sri Lanka has been steadily developing the sport of rowing over the years and there’s great potential in the young talent in the country.”

The five-time World Rowing Champion in single sculls. Drysdale is visiting Sri Lanka on the invitation of the fast rising tea brand – t-sips, produced by Expolanka Teas, the only tea brand in Sri Lanka to be SLS certified.

On his visit to Sri Lanka Drysdale said, “It has been a great pleasure visiting Sri Lanka. The interest shown by t-sips to boost rowing in the country is truly commendable. During my stay, I plan to meet young oarsmen and women, share my experiences with them and share techniques that can help improve performance and maybe clinch Gold in the next Olympics. I am looking forward to this.”

Inviting Drysdale to Sri Lanka is yet another endeavour by t-sips to boost rowing in the country. The tea brand, which is no stranger to the local rowing arena made rowing history earlier this year by organising the inaugural Sri Lanka Schools Rowing Championships, which saw the participation of 10 schools in the country.

t-sips aims to raise the standards of rowing in Sri Lankan schools to international levels, and believes that, Sri Lanka Schools Rowing Championships will establish a competitive platform for the sport on a national level. Importantly it will give oarsmen and women in schools the opportunity to win School Colours and gratuity scores for University entrance.

Director and Chief Executive Officer of t-sips Dhilshad Sideek said: “Rowing is a sport that’s very close to our hearts. We have taken many initiatives to encourage young sportsmen and women and expand the sport to national levels. We believe that having an Olympic Gold Medallist like Drysdale speaking to the young talent in the country will inspire and motivate these athletes to aim for bigger goals and boost rowing in the country.”

t-sips sponsored the Royal-Thomian Regatta for three consecutive years from 2009-2011, and provided oarsmen with state-of-the-art sports gear and facilities to perform at optimum levels. t-sips is also the proud sponsor of the Royal College rowing team since 2009. t-sips has also sponsored international rowing events such as the Far East Asian Rowing Association Championship or the FEARA.

Today, 14 schools, six universities, clubs and institutions in Sri Lanka comprising of over 1,000 oarsmen and woman actively compete in rowing competitions either locally or internationally.