November 21, 2007 : Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC paid tribute to the stars of rugby at the ‘Caltex Observer Touchdown Rugby Awards 2007’ held at the Galle Face Hotel in November.
At this function, presentations were made to the Most Popular Ruggerite for 2007, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and the Most Popular Rugby Club for 2007 – Kandy Sports Club. This selection took place through a competition which was jointly held with the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited during the months from May to August and appeared in the newspapers where readers were encouraged to votes for their preferred club and ruggerite.
Awards were also given to Jeewa Galgamuwa for the ‘Best Captain’, Fazil Marijah for the ‘Best Player’, Senaka Bandara for the ‘Best Forward’, Pradeep Liyanage for the ‘Best Three Quarter’ and Lasintha de Costa for the ‘Most Promising Young Ruggerite’. The presentations were made based on their performance at the Caltex Interclub League and Knockout Tournaments and were adjudged by a National Selectors Committee appointed by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union. According to the Selection Committee, these nominations were made based on their performance at this year’s Caltex sponsored tournaments. Kandy Sports Club was also awarded the ‘Best Team’ title during this event.
Chevron Lubricants Lanka Plc has long supported the game of rugby in Sri Lanka. As the sponsors of the inter club league and knock out tournaments, the organization has proudly watched the game grow and develop over the years.
“When we took over the sponsorship in 2000, our management had a dream. It was to popularize the game and make it grow both as a spectator sport and increase team participation” says Mr. Kishu Gomes, Managing director / CEO for Chevron in Sri Lanka.
Committed to carrying the game forward till 2010, chevron will continue to support the SLRFU in its future endeavours of further strengthening and growing the game.
According to Mr. Gomes, “sponsorship has indeed been rewarding for us. Over the last seven years, we have seen significant development in the game of rugby which have added value to both the sport and in turn to the organization by complementing our brand personality of Power, Energy and Speed”.
This year the organization also came forward to support the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union to revive the President’s Trophy Knock-out Rugby Tournament after a lapse of nine years.