21st March 2018 00:12:35 Hours
The Sri Lanka Army's one of the most admired regiments, Gajaba Regiment (GR), having produced a fine assortment of sports personalities at Army and national levels, took pride in appreciating the services of serving sportsmen and differently-able para-sportsmen during Tuesday (20) evening's ‘Colours Night’ after hailing and recognizing GR sportsmen during a glittering ceremony that got underway at the Bishops’ College auditorium in Colombo.
Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake as the Chief Guest for the occasion, accompanied by the World renowned cricketer, Mahela Jayawardane as the Guest of Honour graced the memorable event, replete with military traditions and entertainment at the invitation of the Colonel of the Regiment, GR, Major General Shavendra Silva who is also the Adjutant General of the Army.
Major General Shavendra Silva, Colonel of the Regiment, GR welcomed the day's Chief Guest on arrival before he was conducted in a procession, preceded by Ves dancers. The day’s event commenced by lighting the traditional oil lamp by the Chief Guest, Guest of Honour and a few other Senior Officers.
The two-minute silence, as has been the practice in all Army ceremonies, revered the memories of fallen War Heroes next and the silence signalled the onset of the day’s proceedings. Paying due respect to the Regiment, the GR regimental song reverberated leaving the floor, next for Major General Shavendra Silva to deliver his welcome speech.
A few minutes later, the official launching of the symbolic 35th Regimental Anniversary memento took place amidst applause with the invited participation of Mrs Manel Wimalaratne, the spouse of GR’s founding father, late Major General Wijaya Wimalaratne .
A documentary screened afterwards enlightened the audience on the evolution of the sports achievements in the past years and accommodated the floor next for the distribution of colours.
Several scintillating and eye-catching spectacles of cultural, musical and historic themes, meticulously choreographed by famed artists held the audiences spellbound as the day’s agenda unfolded one by one while awarding Regimental and Army Colours to 101 GR Officers and Other Ranks (both serving and differently-able) appreciating their excellence in various sports at different levels, i.e. Army, Defence Services, National and International, representing the country.
The gala annual ceremony recognized GR sports stars and their national and international achievements of exceptional nature in the years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, in which those achievers were felicitated at regimental level, Army level, defence services level, national and international levels earlier.
As the stage was getting ready for the honours, Lieutenant General Jagath Dias (Rtd), Major General Shavendra Silva, Colonel of the Regiment, GR, World renowned cricketer, Mahela Jayawardane and Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army were respectively invited to the main stage for presentation of Colours to the recipients who excelled at Army, Defence Services, national and inter-national levels.
The grand presentation of Colours reached its apex as the Chief Guest stepped on to the stage to make the final presentation of Colours to those admired achievers in the GR.
Afterwards, amidst patriotic melodies, 19 achievers received Colours from the Chief Guest, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake as the audience burst into a round of applause.
Out of 378 GR recipients of Colours for their achievements in sports, 101 GR sportsmen became eligible to receive prestigious Army Colours during the same ceremony.
Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake in his brief speech to the occasion congratulated all 101 GR sportsmen, crowned with Army Colours before the ceremony came to an end.
A gathering of Senior Officers, Commanding Officers of the GR, Officers and Other Rankers attended the occasion.
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