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Sri Lankan school boy Under 14 rugby player Harsha Samarasinghe accepting the award as the winner of the DHL Match Ball Delivery campaign which concluded recently. He received an opportunity of a lifetime to deliver a match ball at a Rugby World Cup 2015 game. From left: Mario De Silva, National Commercial Manager, DHL Express Sri Lanka, Dimithri Perera, Country Manager, DHL Express Sri Lanka, Winner – Harsha Samarasinghe, Asanga Seneviratne – President Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union and Lasitha Gunaratne – Vice President Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union
DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services and logistics company, announced that Sri Lankan school boy Under 14 rugby player Harsha Samarasinghe received an opportunity of a lifetime to deliver a match ball at a Rugby World Cup 2015 (RWC 2015) game.
He will be the official Match Ball delivery boy for the scheduled RWC game on 6 October to be held at Leicester. He won this honour through the DHL Match Ball Delivery Program contest, after an online and SMS voting campaign.
In collaboration with the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), DHL Express Sri Lanka set predetermined criteria for the selection process of the online voting and SMS campaign which spanned over a month. The ultimate winner went through three stages of the selection process to finally get the chance to deliver the official Match Ball at a Rugby World Cup game.
The final phase was built up to the point of exhilaration as the votes of well-wishers, family and friends of the final list of students played an active role in selecting the winner from the short listed 20 candidates from the previous round. Finalists received an outstanding response via online votes via the DHL Express Sri Lanka’s official Facebook page in addition to SMS votes.
Harsha Samarasinghe, an Under-14 rugby player from Trinity College, Kandy, will represent Sri Lanka and will have the unprecedented honour of delivering the official Match Ball onto the field of play, during Rugby World Cup in September 2015.
The winners’ prize package includes; two match tickets to a selected game for young Samarasinghe and one parent, RWC 2015 DHL Merchandise kit including uniform, rugby ball, return flights and two night’s accommodation for Samarasinghe and the parent and a Thank You Gift of a Match Ball Delivery photo as a memento.
“This is a proud moment in young Harsha’s life. DHL is very pleased to make his dream come true through this once in a life time opportunity,” said Dimithri Perera, Country Manager, DHL Express Sri Lanka. “This is a very rare opportunity and we believe it will be an unforgettable occasion which he will cherish for the rest of his life.”
DHL, as the Official Logistics Partner for Rugby World Cup 2015, has carried out a highly interactive DHL Match Ball Delivery Program also known locally as the Rugby Dream Campaign. This initiative is part of DHL’s global campaign to select rugby-playing school students between the ages of 8 to 15 years to deliver match balls for all the 48 games at the Rugby World Cup 2015.
In Sri Lanka, DHL Express formed a working relationship with the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) to select an initial 80 rugby-playing students from among the 36 Division ‘A’ schools. Based on rugby skills displayed during a rugby clinic, and reviewed by the Sri Lanka National Team members, the final 20 children were selected.
“We believe this campaign will engage and inspire new participants and fans to the sport and generate further excitement for what promises to be an exceptional RWC 2015 tournament,” Perera noted.
