Seylan Bank rewards 102 sports achievers

National cricketer Nuwan Kulasekara of Seylan Bank’s marketing department and national women’s basketball captain Jayaliya Kumari of the supplies department receiving their special achievement awards from Seylan Bank Chairman Ravi Dias. Director/CEO Kapila Ariyaratne and Jayantha Amarasinghe, President of the Seylan Bank Sports Club and Deputy General Manager HR, are also present

Leading bank Seylan Bank Plc recently held its Seylan Sports Achievers Felicitation 2016 to recognise and reward the bank’s sporting stars. 

Seylan Bank, the bank with the heart, has garnered a name for excellence in financial services and also for the strength of its corporate sporting culture which positively impacts the bank’s working environment. The event, which was held at Havelock City, was graced by Seylan Bank Chairman Ravi Dias, Director/CEO Kapila Ariyaratne as well as senior management. 

102 sporting stars from a collection of sports ranging from athletics, hockey, football, basketball and netball to mixed netball, table tennis and chess were felicitated. Furthermore, former badminton national champion and current veterans champion Renu Chandrika De Silva; current national women’s basketball team captain Jayaliya Kumari, who captained the national team to victory at the SAF Championship; present national carrom champion Chamil Cooray, under whose captaincy the national team won the recently concluded World Carrom Championship and national cricketer Nuwan Kulasekara were conferred special awards for their contributions to Sri Lankan sport. 

In addition to the special awardees, the following sports stars were also feted for their achievements in national sports: Tharanga Paranavithana (cricket), Benica Thalgala (women’s basketball), Tharjini Sivalingam (netball), Shanika Dilhani (netball), Chalitha Ranjana (table tennis) and Saman Perera (former tug of war national team captain) 

“Seylan Bank has long had a strong sporting culture and we have worked to maintain sporting momentum in our bank, always encouraging our employees to pursue their sporting passions alongside their professional work. We are immensely proud of the contributions of Seylan Bank’s sportsmen and women and wish all of them success. The impact of sports in a corporate environment has a positive ripple effect in daily work. Our sports culture augments Seylan Bank’s winning corporate culture and vision. In fact, many of our senior management come from strong sporting backgrounds,” noted Jayantha Amarasinghe, Deputy General Manager, Human Resources and President of the Seylan Bank Sports Club. 

During the past several years, Seylan Bank’s sporting teams have emerged triumphant in mercantile netball, basketball, badminton and table tennis. “We will continue to maintain our sporting momentum by offering more sporting opportunities for all our employees around the country and offering duty leave and flexi-working hours. We encourage our employees to transpose the positive effects and values of sports into their everyday work and continue to deliver quality products and services to our clientele,” added Amarasinghe.

Seylan Bank emerged ‘A’ Division champions at the Mercantile League Netball Tournament in 2015 and 2016 and also emerged Mix Netball Champions at the Mercantile Netball Knockout Tournament in 2015 and 2016. 

Furthermore, the bank’s netball team secured the championship at the Srilankansports.com Netball Challenge 2015 and were winners of the Mix Netball Division. In women’s basketball, the bank were champions in the ‘B’ Division in 2015 and runners-up in the ‘A’ Division in the Mercantile League Basketball Tournament 2016. 

The bank were also winners in the Cup Division of the Mercantile Inter-firm Badminton Doubles Team Championship 2016 and also secured the runners-up position at the Grand Slam Division of the Inter-bank Badminton Team Championship 2016. 

After two consecutive years as runners-up, the Seylan Bank table tennis team secured the championship in the ‘A’ Division Mercantile League Table Tennis Championship this year. Meanwhile, in men’s basketball, Seylan Bank emerged victorious in the ‘D’ Division of the 2016 mercantile league tournament. 

Seylan Bank athletes were able to secure four gold, 11 silver and four bronze medals at the Mercantile and Sri Lanka Masters Championships in 2015 and 2016 while the Seylan hockey team emerged runners-up at the Mercantile ‘B’ Division Championship.