Matale's Sangamitta and St.Thomas' win girls and boys hockey tourneys

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

Matale Schools once again underlined the supremacy in the local hockey scene when they... Sangamittha Girls College (girls) and St. Thomas' College (boys won the championship titles at the National Schools Games boys and girls hockey championship 2013 organised by the Ministry of Education and played at the Astro Turf of the Sports Ministry at Reid Avenue.

Girls tourney

Sri Sangamittha, Girls College who won the Central Province Schools Championship last month, found a tough opponent in Janadhipathi Vidyalaya, Nawala, who held them to a thrilling two-all draw in the final. It was in the tie-breaker system of penalty shoot-out that the Sangamitta girls edged through to win 4-3 which kept the spectators on their toes when the losers missed their fourth stroke while the winners converted theirs.

Goal scorers in the field play in the final for Sangamittha Girls College was their centre forward Nuwanthika Ekanayake who slammed a goal each in either half. For Janadhipathi Vidyalaya, it was their centre-forward Sanduni Dilhari and left-extreme Malindi Maleesha who scored a goal each. At the breather Sangamittha girls led 1-0.

S.N. Jayasinghe and Nadaraja Paraneetharan umpired.Nuwanthika Ekanayake of Sri Sangamittha Girls College was picked as the player of the tournament.The Consolation championship was won by Seetha Devi Girls College, Kandy who beat the last year's champions Museaus College 1-0 to clinch the third spot.

In the two semi-finals, Janadhipathi Vidyalaya beat Seetha Devi Girls College 2-1 on penalty strokes after the match had ended in a two-all draw. In the second semi-final, Sri Sangamittha Girls College beat Museaus College 4-0 on penalty strokes after the match had ended in a scoreless draw.

Boys tourney

The boys championship turned out to be Matale Schools all the way as they won the Championship title, the runners-up berth and the third place by Zahira College, Matale in an absorbing performance never seen before in the National Schools Games.

In the finals, St.Thomas College beat Christ Church College 3-1 after leading 1-C at the lemons.The goal scorers for the Thomians were centre forward N.K. Willawarachchi (2) and left extreme T.Wijetunga (1). For Christ Church College centre forward C. Chandrasena scored.

Zahira College, Matale won the losers final by defeating Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa to win the losers final.Last year's champions Vijaya College, Matale, was the only school to miss the 'boat' to the semi-finals as they bowed out in early stages.In the semi-finals, St.Thomas' College beat Joseph Vaz College 2-0 and Christ Church College beat Zahira College 1-0 on penalty strokes after the match had ended in a scoreless draw.

S.T.B. Herath of St.Thomas' College, Matale was adjudged the player of the Tournament.It was the reversal of results of the Central Province championship played last month in Matale where Christ Church College became champions, Zahira College, Matale runners following a penalty stroke by the same margin of 1-0 and St.Thomas' College was placed third.