Colombo, 30 July 2012: A team of private individuals, who branded themselves as the ‘Invictus Team’, emerged overall winners at the inaugural Serendib Quiz held at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo, on 29 July 2012.

The winning Invictus team beat 40 other teams from all over Sri Lanka to win the top prize of Rs. 100,000 and the specially designed Serendib Quiz glass trophy. Invictus team was led by Kasun Pathirage and comprised Lakshmi Radhakrishnan, Hasini Minuvanpitiya, Gayani Minuvanpitiya and Ranuka Dharmaratne.

Two other individual teams – Chamara Sumanapala’s Team and Imran Furkan’s Team – secured second and third places respectively.

A total of 205 players, in 41 teams, took part in this live quizzing event compiled and hosted by Nalaka Gunawardene, a leading quizzing professional. Participants’ ages ranged from 13 to 65 years. Many teams came from schools, banks and private companies while a number of quiz enthusiasts competed as private teams.

In total, prizes worth over Rs. 400,000 — in cash and kind — were presented to the top performing teams at this competitive event.

Serendib Quiz was organised by Quiz World (Pvt) Limited and sponsored by Commercial Credit PLC in partnership with Sarasavi Bookshop (Pvt) Limited, Fast Ads (Pvt) Limited, the British Council, BT Options, TVE Asia Pacific and Kent Holdings.

“Serendib Quiz has shown us that there is an unmet demand for mind sports in Sri Lanka,” said Quiz World Director Nalaka Gunawardene, who has been compiling and hosting radio and TV quizzes since 1990. “We were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response, and are very glad to have created a new platform for current and budding quizzers to sharpen their skills.”

The team representing Dharmaraja College, Kandy, was the winner in the educational category, followed by Ananda College and the Royal College A Team. All members of these teams received British Council Library gold memberships, in addition to book vouchers and books.

Srilankan Airlines Team came first in the corporate category, while Seylan Bank Team was the winner in the category for banks and financial institutions.

Serendib Quiz involved 50 questions from all areas of knowledge, local and global, presented in five rounds. Contestants worked simultaneously in teams to write out answers that were immediately marked by a three-member judging panel comprising Lathikka Niriella, Dr Dilantha Gunawardena and Dhammika Atapattu, all highly ranked quizzers in Sri Lanka.

“Encouraged by this tremendous response, we plan to organize future editions of Serendib Quiz at regular intervals, and hope discerning corporate sponsors will support our efforts,” said Vindana Ariyawansa, Director of Quiz World (Pvt) Limited, an educational services company dedicated to promoting quizzing as a mind sport.

Participation in Serendib Quiz is open to all educational institutions, public and private establishments, banks and other financial institutions, as well as groups of private individuals.

Quizzing is an established mind sport at international level with its own global association and championships. Participants engage in a friendly tussle testing their quick wits and sharp memories.

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