56th National Hockey Championship:

Defence Services crush Sri Lanka Schools

By Sajeewa JAYAKODY

Defending champions Defence Services booked their place in the semi-finals beating Sri Lanka Schools 11-0 in the quarter-final match played on Astro Turf, Reid Avenue, Colombo Saturday. T. Abeyratne struck the opening goal in the second minute and later Mulafer hammered home their second goal from a penalty corner in the 11th minute. Mulafer continued his good show with a hat-trick netting two goals in 15th and 20th minute.

Down by three goals, Sri Lanka Schools panicked and missed several opportunities. R. Ranasinghe made connection in 24th minute and R. Ratnayake scored another goal for Defence Services. Defence dominated the first half as K. Gunawardena scoring their seventh goal in 27th minute.

Defence led 7-0 at 'lemons'. P. Dissanayake scored again in 37th minute before Defence skipper and Sri Lanka captain Ishanka Jayasundera found the net in the 42nd minute. Dissanayake hit home the 11th goal to emerge on top of the 56th National Hockey Championship for the semi-final clash today at 7am.

In the second quarter-final match, Kegalle HA beat Galle HA by 3-1 to seal their place in the semi-finals. Kegalle's A. Imran scored the opening goal in the 11th minute after collecting a strong hit. Imran came out confidently in the 16th minute and destroyed the Galle defence as he raced to net the second goal. However, Sri Lanka national player N. Sanjeewa in the 24th minute struck home his team’s lone goal. Kegalle' H. Heendeniya found the net in 25th minute to make it 3-0 at half time. The second half was goalless and Kegalle ensured the 3-1 victory yesterday to meet Matale HA in the second semi-final at 8.30 am today.

Mercantile defeated Colombo Hockey Association by 2-1 in the third quarter-final match. In the fifth minute Mercantile's V. Dassanayake opened the account and national player H.S. Hettiarachchi hammered the second goal in the 24th minute. At 'lemons' Mercantile led 2-0. Colombo HA managed to score their only goal through Abitha Fernando in the 55th minute.

In the last quarter-final match, Matale HA thrashed Combined Univesity by 8-2. Matale team opened its account as Sri Lanka national player R M Cramer hit home in the ninth minute. In the 14th and 19th minutes P. Abeyratne and D. Panditharatne scored two goals for Matale. R.M. Suresh and Ajith Manjula netted another two in 23rd and 25th minutes respectively. Asanka Bandara directed a well-executed shot to lead 6-0 at 'lemons'. Combined University consolidated as P.C. Madushan in the 45th minute and T.A. Attanayake in 52nd minute hit home their two goals.

Matale were victorious as W. Dissanayake struck twice in 49th and 54th minutes to register their place in the semi-final against Kegalle HA today.

The semi-finals will be played starting at 7am between Defence Services and Mercantile followed by Kegalle, Matale match.

The finals of the 56th Hockey Nationals will be played at 4.30pm today.