Hillwood sweep awards at CMCC ‘One-Whistle’ netball tournament
View(s):Hillwood Club girls from Kandy swept the boards at the ‘One-Whistle’ Invitational Netball Tournament conducted by the Colombo Malay Cricket Club (CMCC) to mark its 150th anniversary celebrations which began in March 2022.
Hillwood Club, formed by girls of Hillwood College, Kandy senior netball team, won the club final defeating Kalutara Balika Vidyalaya 11-7. Hillwood carried away the special awards with Kusalika Aluwihare crowned CMCC Netball Queen, Yuthara Rajaratnam as Best Centre Court player, Lakshika Aluwihare as Best Defensive Player and Vichali Mawilmada as Best Shooter.
Siri Piyaratane, Padukka emerged champions in the Under-15 school final defeating Yasodara Balika Vidyalaya 9-7. The Veterans final was won by Track Master who beat Police SC 7-4.
The tournament held at the Padang, was played in a carnival atmosphere with the participation of 20 teams including two men’s teams from Monaragala and Ratnapura who featured in an exhibition match.
Organised under the supervision of former national captain and Asia Cup winning coach Hyacinth Wijesinghe, a unique feature of this tournament was that matches were played simultaneously on four courts beginning and ending with one whistle during the league stage with a running clock of seven minutes in each half with an interval of one minute.
A past official of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka, Yasmin Dharmaratne, was the chief guest while Damayanthi Jayathilaka was the Guest of Honour. The President of Netball Federation of Sri Lanka, Lakshmi Victoria also graced the occasion. The winners and runners-up received trophies and certificates.