Twenty teams in Mercantile Hockey Sevens

Twenty teams, including the cream of the country’s talent with nine players of the national side who won the bronze medal at last month’s South Asian Games, will be seen in action at the 30th annual Seven-a-Side Championship of the Mercantile Hockey Association (MHA) at the Sarawanamuttu Stadium on October 29 from 8 a.m. onwards. This tournament is sponsored for the 25th consecutive year by Unilever Sri Lanka Limited.

Six sides will compete in the ‘A’ Division. They are Hatton National Bank ‘A’, Commercial Bank, Singer, Sampath Bank, Sierra Electronics and Arpico for the MHA Trophy. The four teams in the ‘B’ Division for the Singer Trophy are: Seylan Bank, Hatton National Bank ‘B’, Janashakthi Group and Airport and Aviation.

The six teams in the ‘C’ Division for the Lifebuoy Trophy are divided into two groups with Browns Group, Colombo Hilton and Bartleets Group are in Group ‘A’, while John Keells Group, HSBC and SriLankan Airlines are in Group ‘B’. The four sides in ‘D’ Division for the Edmund J. Cooray Trophy are AWD Group, Unilever, V & U Electronics and M.J.F. Group.

The Dennis de Rosayro Fairplay Trophy donated by Idao (Pvt) Limited is also on offer for ‘A’ Division teams.

H.S. Hettiaratchi of Sampath Bank has been adjudged the Outstanding Young Player (2006) and will be awarded the Hemaka Amarasuriya Trophy. The MHA will also be awarding “Hockey Sticks” to the Outstanding Player in each division.

The MHA will also give away cash awards to the champions of each division (‘A’ Rs. 7,500/=, ‘B’ Rs.6,000/=, ‘C’ Rs. 5,000/=, ‘D’ Rs. 5,000/= and ‘E’ Rs. 5,000/=). They (the MHA) will also present a special merit plaque to Senior Vice-President and Treasurer. Mahinda Wijayaratne (MW Associates) for outstanding services rendered to the MHA for the past 25 years.

In the Mercantile League tournament this year, HNB ‘A’ won the ‘A’ Division, Seylan Bank the ‘B’ Division, John Keells Group the ‘C’ Division and Unilevers the ‘D’ Division, while in the Knock-out tournament, Sierra Electronics won the ‘A’ Division, Seylan Bank the ‘B’ Division, Browns Trophy the ‘C’ Division and Unilevers the ‘D’ Division.

Avindra de Silva (Managing Director, Tea Division of Unilevers) and Mrs. Stephanie de Silva will be the chief guests, while the guests of honour will be G.L. Chitral Amarasiri (Deputy General Manager of Human Resources of the Commercial Bank) and Mrs. Nelani Amarasiri. L.G.