Sports track

National sports associations of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Hockey Federation

The British Service personnel and the European planters are believed to have introduced hockey to Sri Lanka. It had been yet another “Europeans only” game until the end of the 19th century.

With deep roots in the hill country, the best hocky players have always come from cities like Matale, Kandy and Badulla.

The first ever hockey tournament, according to records, is the Moore’s Shield (presented by the Governor General, Sir Henry Monk Mason Moore) Championship played in 1909, and continued for thirteen consecutive years. The re-emergence of the Moores Shield Championship was in 1965 and it continues to date.

The much awaited international exposure for Sri Lankan hockey players was initiated in 1932 with the arrival of the Indian national team. Even with four Europeans in the team, the local outfit was no match for the Indians.

But the year 1932 was of much significance as all clubs and associations scattered islandwide got together on May 8 to form the game’s national body under the name of Ceylon Hockey Association. Thirteen years later in 1953, the Sri Lankan National Hockey team made its first overseas tour to India to take part in the Korea Cup Championship. Sri Lanka lost the encounter by a mammoth score 7-0.

The first ever foreign team to visit the country was the Afghanistan Olympic team on February 8, 1947 (lost 3-0) and another three months later, on May 6, 1947, the Indian Olympic Squad beat Sri Lanka 12-0 in Colombo.

The inaugural National Hockey Championship for the A. A. Weerasinghe Challenge Trophy was conducted in 1950.

Sri Lanka Weight Lifting Federation

Weight lifting was introduced to Sri Lanka as a sport in 1939 by an Englishman named J. P. Hill at a trial contest at the Fort YMCA. This was followed by YMCA Kandy, but soon went bankrupt in 1954.

Nine years later, in 1963, an organised and focused association was formed under the name Sri Lanka Amateur Weight Lifting and Body Building Association.

The new association, like in 1939, conducted a trial meet for amateurs in 1963 which was continued until 1974. The same year, the body building section of the association broke away and formed the Sri Lanka Amateur Body Building Association, which was, since 1977, called the Sri Lanka Weight Lifting Federation.

The Sri Lanka Weight Lifting Association is a member of all its senior federations like the Asian, Commonwealth and the International Body Building Federations.