Hockey National finals today

Jaffna HA plays after 25 years:

by S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN, Kandy Sports Correspondent at Matale

Defending champions Defence Services, Wennappuwa HA, Galle HA and Matale HA entered the semi finals at the 52nd Mens Senior Hockey Nationals organised by the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation at Edward Park and Nandimithra Ekanayake International Hockey Stadium in Matale, yesterday.

At the four quarter finals played last evening Galle Hockey Association beat Kegalle Hockey Association 3-1, Matale Hockey Association beat Colombo Hockey Association 6-2, Defence Services Hockey Association beat Mercantile Hockey Association 7-2 and Wennappuwa Hockey Association beat State Services Hockey Association 5-2.

The semi-finals will be played this morning between Defence Services and Wennappuwa and the second semi-final will be between Matale and Galle.

The finals will be played this afternoon at 6.30 p.m. under light at the Nandimithra Ekanayake Astro Turf Stadium.

The biggest win for the day was by Mercantile Services who trounced Kalutara HA 23-0 after leading 8-0 at lemons. Centre forward M. Ghazzali was in sparking form scoring 8 goals including a hat-trick.

Jaffna Hockey Association which played in this tournament after a lapse of 25 years did well to beat Kalutara HA 5-0. The goal scorers were R. Rajeswaran (2), S. Nishanthan (1), T. Luxman (1), S. Sagitharan (1).

Later State Services trounced Jaffna 18-0, with T. Sathis Kumar (6), M. Dunusha (1), U. P. Fernando (4), F. M. Inshan (1), M. T. Mahesh (1) and C.L. Sumanasekera (4) getting the goals.