Central’s hat-trick girls take the limelight
Two lasses from the hills – Thusanthika Themiyadasa and Pradeepa Nilmini scored hat-tricks in the match between Central Province and Eastern Province at the Hockey Championship of 41st National Sports Festival yesterday.
Central Province women stickers thrashed Eastern Province 14 - Pic by Ranjith Perera
The tournament teed off yesterday at the Astro Turf in Torrington yesterday with eight first round games and will continue today.
Unfortunately the games were played to empty stands sans any glamour as it has been a regular feature of the annual National Sports Festival.
The tournament featuring nine teams each in Men’s and Women’s categories got off to a flying start and completed the day with four matches each in respective categories.
The defending champions in the Women’s category – Central Province – have been winners for over two decades in this tournament and they sent a strong message to their rivals with a resounding win against newcomers Eastern by 14-nil.
The first half of the encounter, where the Central lasses got an opportunity to virtually warm up for the big day today, were totally dominated by them by 7-0.
With the team fielding 15 national caps Thusanthika and Pradeepa became the cynosure after the turnaround. With a comprehensive win on the cards, Thusanthika scored her hat-trick in the 44, 46 and 50 minutes in the second half as Pradeepa took over to score her triple in the 51, 53 and 59 minutes.
The win ensured Central Province a berth in the semi-finals alongside Southern and Western provinces with the fourth slot to be decided after the fourth quarter-final between Uva and Northern provinces.
Southern and Western received walkovers from North Central and North Western provinces respectively as the conceders did not turn out for the games.
In the Men’s segment Central, North Western and Western provinces qualified for the semi-final stage after easy wins against North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces respectively.
Again Central dominated against North Central with an 11-0 win while North Western and Western recorded identical wins of 3-0 each against Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces.
The fourth semi-finalist will be decided after today’s fourth quarter-final game between Uva and Northern provinces.
Today the games will continue with the fourth Women’s quarter-final at 7.00am followed by the fourth Men’s quarter-final at 8.30am.
Semi-finals will be followed soon after with the two Women’s semi-finals at 10.00am and 11.00 am. The two Men’s semi-finals will be played at 1.00pm and 2.30pm. The finals will be played tomorrow from 2.00pm.