Central Province Men’s and Women’s hockey teams emerge champions
Central Province Men's and Women's teams
Central Province exhibited their prowess with the stick when their Men’s and Women’s hockey teams emerged champions at the 45th National Sports Festival 2019 at the Astro Turf, Colombo 7 last week.
Organised by the Ministry of Sports, nine Men’s and seven Women’s teams representing different provinces with over 300 players taking part in the tournament with most of them being players from schools.
Defending champions Central Province Men defeated Western Province 6-2 in the first semi-final and in the second semi-final Southern Province beat North Western Province 4-3 to qualify to lock horns in the finals.
In the women’s category, last year’s runner-up Western Province trounced Southern Province 4-0 in the first semi-final while defending champions Central Province recorded an easy win over Eastern Province 11-0 qualified to play in the finals.
Men's and Women's winners with officials
Stickers of Central Province displayed a fine brand of stick work which enabled them to ride to glory as champions.
The Men’s final clash between Central Province and Southern Province became a one sided affair as Central Province went on a goal scoring spree to register an 8-1 victory.
Central Province and Western Province clash in the Women’s finals, spirited Western Province women made the Central Province women to sweat hard to snatch victory. The final whistle was blown with the score standing 8-5 in favour of Central Province.
Geethika Damayanthi and Ranjith Kulatunga, both of Central Province were adjudged the Best Players in the Women’s and Men’s categories respectively.
– Lakshman Ranasinghe
Central Province Women's team
Final Standings:
Men
Men’s First Place:
Central Province
Men’s Second Place:
Southern Province
Men’s Third Place:
Western Province
Women
Women’s First Place:
Central Province
Women’s Second Place:
Western Province
Women’s Third Place:
Southern Province