Gateway felicitates its coach for making Sri Lanka proud
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Thilaka Jinadasa (centre), Pradeep Nishantha (R) and Tharindu Fernando (L)
Pradeep Nishantha, Assistant Head of Sports of Gateway College Colombo was felicitated by the Gateway Colleges for his remarkable contribution to the country in producing two medal winners at the recently held Paralympic Games in Japan.
The Sri Lankan national song was played for the very first time at an Olympics when Dinesh Priyantha Herath, who was trained by Pradeep Nishantha, won a gold medal with a new world record. Pradeep has been working at Gateway since 2005 as a part time coach and since 2015 as a full-timer and has been responsible for producing many national athletes from Gateway.
As an organisation that is committed to the development of sports, Gateway’s Directorate believes that the ultimate beneficiaries of all investments they make should be the athletes and the country.
All Gateway’s coaches who are responsible for national squads are provided with duty leave to represent the country at international events. Many of the school’s facilities which have been built to international standards are offered free of charge, if ever the national squads require them for practices.
Thilaka Jinadasa, Team Leader Sports Development of Gateway Group along with the senior management team of Gateway Colombo presenting a memento to Pradeep Nishantha
Gateway students are blessed to be coached and guided by professionals of the highest calibre. Thilaka Jinadasa, the Team Leader – Sports Development for the entire group, was the very first female Olympian to represent Sri Lanka in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and is also a double international athlete who represented Sri Lanka in both athletics and netball. Under her guidance, as a national netball coach, Sri Lanka won the Asian Netball Championship title twice in 2009 and 2018. She also served as national netball coach for the national teams of Maldives and Brunei Darussalam.
Among Gateway’s team of coaches are a number of top Sri Lankan coaches. Tharindu Fernando, who was recently appointed national basketball coach for the Under-23 Sri Lankan side, is among them. Other coaches who have provided their services at national level are Y.K. Kularatne (athletics), Dhanushka Fernando (badminton), Ruwan Satharasinghe (karate), Sharen Kannangara (rowing), C.H. Thalagala (squash), Chandana Perera (table tennis), Ganendran Subramaniam (tennis) and Anurudhdha Wijesinghe (basketball).
Chairman, Dr. Harsha Alles making a presentation to Pradeep Nishantha. Also in the picture are Dinali Alles (Director), Vinita Shenoy (Principal) and Rohana Perera (Deputy Principal)
Gateway’s investment and commitment to sports over the years has been exemplary. The school offers state-of-the-art facilities that are of international standard. They include the only 50metre swimming pool among international schools in Sri Lanka, which is situated in the Negombo school; the football pitch and the beautiful pavilion built in the Ratmalana school, the badminton and squash courts of the Colombo school and the modern basketball and netball courts in Rajagiriya, Nawala, Kandy and Dehiwala. There are newly built tennis courts in Rajagiriya, Kandy and Nawala.
A nine acre sports complex is currently being developed in Seeduwa that will include a large ground with five cricket pitches and ample space for football, rugby and athletics (with a 400metre track). The sports complex that was recently opened in Kandy offers facilities for athletics, tennis, cricket, football and netball. A 50metre swimming pool is also being constructed in Kandy.