Sri Lanka, being the undisputed Champions at the Asian Netball Championship in 2018 and subsequently qualifying to participate at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England in July this year, Netball in our country has reached a new height.

Established in 1891, Musaeus College has progressed steadily and evolved into one of the country’s most sought after academic institutions for the education of young girls. The school owes much to its founder Mrs Marie Musaeus Higgins, a German educationist, who authored several publications based on Buddhist and Sinhala cultural themes and is recognised as a pioneer in female education in the country. The school aims to encourage students to involve themselves in all spheres of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.

Since its humble beginnings in 1997, Gateway College has provided the highest global standards while retaining the culture of the land. With five state of the art campuses and a programme of learning that follows the English Curriculum in its entirety from Foundation to Advanced Level, Gateway College earns a reputation to be one of Sri Lanka’s premium educational institutions.

This was largely owing to the leadership of Mrs. Rohini Alles, a former teacher of Royal College, Colombo and the founder Deputy Principal of President's College, who played a decisive role in the establishment of Gateway Primary School and Mr. R.I.T. Alles, the renowned Educationist who rose from being a teacher to the State Secretary of Education of Sri Lanka. Mrs. Alles continues to play an important leadership role at Gateway.

The inaugural ‘Marie Musaeus - Rohini Alles challenge Trophy, held in honour of the founders of the two schools was held in June last year. The opening game was an absolute thriller in which the Musaeus girls got the better of the Gateway girls with a slender margin of 2 points to win the game 27-25.

The players to be watched this year include Vishmika Rathnayake and Aneesha Perera of Gateway College who represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Youth Netball Championship in Japan and Tiana Bollegala of Musaeus College who represented the Sri Lanka Schools Team in Australia. Musaeus College’s Under 17 Team clinched the recently held All Island Milo Netball Championship.

The 2nd annual encounter will be held on Saturday, 7 September 2019 at Gateway College Grounds in Ratmalana. The main focus of the encounter will be the Under 20 match between the two schools. An exhibition match will be played between Methodist College and Gateway College Kandy; and due attention will be paid to upcoming talent by incorporating an under 15 match at the start of the event.

Ms Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, a prominent sports personality and an outstanding cooperate leader will be the chief guest of the event.

The University of Central Lancashire, one of the UK’s largest universities with a student and staff community approaching 38,000, and two reputed banks, the Sampath Bank and Union Bank have agreed to be the main sponsors of this popular encounter. Papare.com (Dialog Axiata) as the digital partner will live telecast the event. Asiri Hospital will be the Healthcare Partner and the Gateway Graduate School will also contribute to the event as a sponsor.