Seylan Bank unbeaten champs in Mercantile 'A' division

HOCKEY: The spirited Seylan Bank Hockey team created history becoming the unbeaten Champions in the 32nd Mercantile Hockey Seven a side 'A' division tournament. They won the Dennis De Rosayro Championship Trophy in penalty shoot-out last Sunday at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium by defeating the strong Hatton National Bank 'A' side by 2 goals to one in sensational performance.

At full-time, both sides had failed to score in a highly contested final with both teams displaying their skills and strengths which saw the teams struggling to score at full time. Then it was the penalty shoot out which decided the winners. For Seylan, it was Mario Joseph who netted two superb penalties without any mistakes and their goalkeeper Ruwan Fernando did the rest by stopping the penalty by M. Gazzaly and became victors. It was their senior player and Coach Mario Joseph who played the major role and kept the side together throughout the tournament and well supported by Ruwan Fernando, and their Junior players M. J. M. Irshad, Clive Fernando, Chinthaka Peries, R. Kumarasinghe, Ernaga Ratnayake and Dilan David were at their best and with good discipline and team spirit earned them the Championship and win the Fair Play award too.

Seylan entered the final with their sensational performance right throughout, the tournament being unbeaten by wins against Commercial Bank 1-0, Singer Sri Lanka 3-0, Sampath Bank 1-0, and drew against Hatton National Bank 'A' 2-2, Hatton National Bank 'B' 2-2.