Seylan banks on height to get past HNB 60-56
View(s):Mercantile Services Netball 2016
The energetic, Vasana Lakmali and 7-footer, Tharjini Sivalingam turned in sterling performances in the last quarter, to give Seylan Bank a heart-stopping, 60-56 win over HNB in the Mercantile Services “A” Division Netball Tournament 2016,concluded at Thurstan College Grounds.
HNB led by Sri Lanka Captain, Gayani Dissanayake, led at half-time. Seylan Bank fought back ferociously in the 3rd quarter and ran up a 10-point lead. But HNB managed to erase the lead and come within a point (55-54) at the end of this session.
HNB leading comfortably made some unforced errors midway in the final quarter, which was fully capitalised upon by Seylan Bank, as Vasana Lakmali took charge and kept feeding the ‘oblong’, Sri Lanka player from Jaffna, Tharjini Sivalingam, to score rapidly and win the game by 4 points.
With this win, Seylan Bank avenged their 1-point loss to HNB in the Mercantile Knockout Tournament 2016 semi-finals held a few months back. In the League stage, Seylan Bank beat Commercial Bank, 29-14 and Citizens Development Business (CDB) 51-29. HNB beat CDB 62-13 and Commercial Bank 42-14. CDB took 3rd spot, beating Commercial Bank 52-48.
Seylan Bank scored a ‘double’, when they beat Nations Trust Bank to win the Mixed Tournament.
Special Awards
Best Defence- H.D. Mandira (Seylan Bank); Best Shoot- Tharjini Sivalingam (Seylan Bank); Best Centre- H. Gayanjali (HNB); Netball Queen- Wasana Lakmali (Seylan Bank) ; Best Male Player- Gayan Samaraweera (Seylan Bank).
‘B’ Division: Champs- Expolanka Group; 1st Runner-up- Nations Trust Bank; 2nd Runner-up- Sampath Bank
‘C’ Division: Champs- Kanrich Finance; 1st Runner-up- Sri Lanka Telecom; 2nd Runner-up- Access Group
‘D’ Division: Champs- MAS Active Shadeline; 1st Runner-up- Commercial Credit & Finance
- By Lakshman Ranasinghe