The official representative for Omega watches in Sri Lanka, Chatham Luxury, hosted a gala dinner for the Sri Lankan Olympic team and contingent members on 21st July 2016, as they enter the final stages of preparation before flying to Rio, Brazil, for the 2016 Olympics. Omega is the Official Timekeeper of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Chatham Luxury Directors were present at the formal sit-down dinner held at Hilton Colombo Residencies along with distinguished invitees, Her Excellency Elizabeth-Sophie Mazzella di Bosco Balsa – Brazilian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, representatives of the Embassy and senior members of the National Olympic Committee.
Siddarth Hirdaramani, Director, Chatham Luxury commented, “Chatham Luxury and Omega is delighted to host Sri Lanka’s athletes as they prepare to fly out to Rio for the 2016 Olympics. As the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games, Omega enjoys a close bond with athletes and understands the effort and hard work that goes into their performance during the games. Their pride in representing their country drives them to excel at their events. Omega works alongside the Olympic athletes with the same passion and duty to ensure their efforts are recorded for posterity in the safe hands of Omega. Sri Lanka’s athletes selected for the 2016 Rio Olympics have worked hard to get to this point and Chatham Luxury wishes them the very best of luck for their respective events on behalf of Omega. We are confident that they will bring glory to the nation and we are proud to give them the recognition they deserve on this occasion.”
As the Olympic Games have evolved over time, Omega’s own excellence in timekeeping has continued to grow. Omega’s timekeeping has evolved to become a highly-sophisticated system that leaves no result in doubt. At the 2012 London Olympics, Omega introduced futuristic equipment including new starting blocks used by sprinters and short distance runners; the innovative Swimming Show that instantly ranks the top three finishers in the pool; and the high-precision Quantum Timer used in athletics and water sports that has an enhanced resolution of one millionth of a second. It has also introduced the light and electronic sound ‘starting pistol’ with its bright red colour and the OMEGA Scan’O’Vision MYRIA that captures 10,000 frames per second in a photofinish.
About Sri Lanka’s 2016 Rio Olympics Team: Sri Lanka’s Olympics team consists of Anuradha Cooray, who will run the Men’s Marathon. He is a national record holder and has represented Sri Lanka in the 2004 Olympic Games finishing 30th out of 113 in the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 24 seconds. In 2015, Cooray gave his best performance to finish 14th in what was not only a new personal best by just over two minutes, but also a new national record with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 47 seconds, breaking the previous record set by Lucian Rosa in the 1975 Fukuoka Marathon.
Niluka Rajasekara has qualified for the women’s marathon event at Rio 2016 during last year’s Hong Kong marathon, where she came in fifth. She also set a new Sri Lankan record with a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and seven seconds. Prior to this, she competed in the marathon event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China, finishing 49th.
Sumedha Ranasinghe in his Javelin Throw cleared a distance of 83.04 metres by more than 3 metres in his fifth throw, breaking the national record held by Asian Championship medallist Sachith Maduranga. He achieved Olympic standards after he became the first Sri Lankan male thrower in the history after he bettered his mark made by 0.04 metres.
Swimmer Matthew Abeysinghe won 7 gold medals, 2 silver, and 1 bronze (10 medals at 11 events) at the 2016 South Asian Games. Abeysinghe broke the record for most gold medals won at the South Asian Games by a Sri Lankan. Abeysinghe is the first swimmer to qualify under the Olympic Standard (B) to represent Sri Lanka in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Kimiko Raheem is another swimmer on the team and is a 2016 South Asian Games gold medalist in the 200-metre backstroke, silver medalist in the 200-metre freestyle, and 400-metre freestyle relay, will be filling in as a wild card entry in next month’s Olympic games. She won the highest number of medals by a Sri Lankan woman at the 2016 South Asian Games in India. She was a semi-finalist at the 100-metre backstroke event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The wild card entry for this year’s Olympics, Niluka Karunaratne will represent the country in Badminton. Karunaratne defeated Kenichi Tago of Japan 2–0. Karunaratne defeated Tago 21–18, 21–16 in 44 minutes at the Wembley Arena in the Olympic men’s badminton singles Group C at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Chamara Dharmawardhana will be the first Sri Lankan to represent the country in Judo and is also a wild card entry.
Mangala Samarakoon will take aim in the shooting event and this 10-metre air rifle and the 50-metre rifle prone shooting master has been included in the Olympics team as a wild card entry. Samarakoon had competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the men’s 10-metre air rifle and men’s 50-metre rifle prone.
Sudesh Peiris will represent the country in Weightlifting. The 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medal winner in the 62 kg event will take up the 63 kg event in this year’s Olympics as a wild card entry. He was also able to secure the gold medal for the men’s 62 kg weightlifting event at the 2016 South Asian Games.
Photo caption: Omega Official Time Pieces on display at Chatham Luxury Showroom
Sri Lankan Olympic Team – Niluka Geethani Rajasekara, RM Sumedha Jagath Ranasinghe, Niluka Rushan Perera Karunaratne, Mangala Samarakoon
Official Representatives of the National Olympic Team: Mr. Tishan Sampath Dissanayake, Mr. Saman Priyantha Bandara, Mr. Charles Wellington Devaraja Henry, Mr. Malwattage Aubrey Vernon Peiris, Mr. Ranasinghe Banda Dissanayake, Mr. Katuwawala Gamage Nishanthe Indunil Piyasen & Mr. Maxwell De Silva with Chatham Luxury General Manager Indrajith Ranawana
Mr. Nikhil Hirdaramani, Director, Chatham Luxury addresses the guests