Seetha Devi SC hockey champs

Kandy Sports Correspondent

HOCKEY: Seetha Devi Sports, club Kandy became champions in the championship for women while CH & FC and Air Force were declared joint champions in the mens tournament at the 8th Old Vijeyans seven a side hockey championship organised by the Old Vijeyans Sports Club end worked off at the Nandimithra Hockey Stadium in Matale.

Seetha Devi Sports Club and its school Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Kandy, have been dominating the local hockey scene for a number of years once again put up an impressive performance. In the finals for women they beat Vijaya Sports Club, Matale 1-0 after leading 1-0 at the breather.

Seetha Devi stickers were in complete control of the game from the start and mid way in the initial half they scored their winning goal through Chathurika Wijesuriya.

Having gained an early edge over their opponents, they defended their lead for the rest of the match. In the first semi final Seetha Devi Sports Club beat their sister club old Devians Sports Club 3-0 after leading 1-0 at lemons. Sri Lanka skipper Shyama Kumari Ranasinghe scored two goals while the other was scored by Chathurika Wijesuriya.

In the second semi final Vijaya Sports Club got the better of Seetha Devi Sports Club 'B' 1-0 on penalty strokes after the scores were level at full time.

Heavy rain on the first day washed off all the matches and on the second day the organisers had a difficult time in completing the matches and some of them had to be done through penalty strokes in the first round of the championship.

The mens final between Air Force and CH & FC ran into unexpected problems which compelled the organisers to declare the two teams as joint champions following a disputed short corner at which time the Air Force team was leading 2-1.

With five minutes to go for the long blast, a long hit struck the leg of an Air Force defender and a long corner was awarded by Mahes Abeywickrema who is an international umpire. But the CH & FC team protested that it should be a short corner and the co-umpire declared that it should be a short corner.

It was now the turn of the Air Force team to protest. This ended in a dead lock with the two teams demanding for two different corner strokes for the same infringement.

With time running out and the two teams unable to reach an agreements, the organisers did the next best thing by declaring both teams as joint champions, a rather an unusual end to a days exciting hockey.

In the semi finals Air Force 'A' beat Air Force 'B' 1-0. In the second semi final CH & FC beat Sri Lanka Army 'B' 2-0 on penalty strokes.