40 Schools in u.19 hockey tourney

by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Corr.

HOCKEY: Twenty Four boys schools and 16 girls schools will participate in the All Island Schools Under 19 Boys and Girls hockey tournament organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Association and sponsored by Singer which will be worked off at Matale from January 18th to 21st.

The matches will be played at the Nandamithra Ekanayake Hockey Stadium (Astra turf) and in two courts at the Bernard Aluvihare Stadium.

The Chief Guest at the Ceremony which will be on Thursday January 18th will be Sumith Edirisinghe - Chairman, Interim Committee of the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation with former national hockey player Damitha Wijesundera (Sales Manager - Sisil Cooling Specialists) as the Guest of Honour.

The Chief Guest at the closing ceremony will be Marketing Director of Singer Sri Lanka (Pvt) Limited Asitha Abeysekera.

The initial stage of the matches will be played on a league basis and will be played on a knock out basis from quarter-final onwards.

The teams have been grouped as follows:

Boys

Group A: Royal College, Vijaya College, Ananda College, Trinity College, Richmond College, Dharmadutha College, Badulla.

Group B: Christ Church College Matale, S. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia, Dharmaraja College, St. Aloysius College, Galle, Marie Stella College, Negombo, and St. Thomas College Matara.

Group C: Zahira College Matale, St. Peter's College Colombo, Vidyaratha College, Kingswood College, Vidyaloka Vidyalaya Galle, Kalutara Vidyalaya.

Group D: St. Thomas College Matale, Nalanda Vidyalaya, St. Sylvesters College, Mahinda College Galle, Joseph Vas College Wennappuwa, Badulla Madhya Maha Vidyalaya.

Girls

Group A: Seetha Devi BV Kandy, Ladies College Colombo, Christ Church College Matale, Yasodara Devi BV Gampaha.

Group B: Yasodara Vidyalaya Colombo, Mahamaya College Kandy, Sangamitta BV Matale, Vihara Maha Devi BV Badulla.

Group C: Pushpadana Girls College Kandy, Musaeus College Colombo, Girls High School Kandy, Sri Sumana BV Badulla.

Group D: Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo, Vijaya College Matale, Swarnamali BV Kandy and Sri Sangamitta BV Galle.

Royal College, Nalanda College, Trinity College, St. Thomas College Matale, Joseph Vas College, St. Sylvester's College are among the top favourites in the competition for boys. Seetha Deva BV, Yasodara Vidyalaya, Visakha Vidyalaya, Sangamitta BV Matale, Vijaya College, Pushapadana Girls College are the favourites in the competition for girls.