St. Luke’s clinch Boys Under 14 rugby title

RUGBY: St. Luke’s College, Ratnapura clinched the Cup Championship of the under 14 Rugby tournament of Sabaragamuwa Province by beating Eheliyagoda Central by 10 points (two tries) to nil in the final played at Kelani Valley grounds recently after leading 5-0 at the breather.

Kavantissapura MV bagged the Girls Under 14 Cup Championship by beating Pallekanugala MV by 5 points to nil in the finals.

St. Mary’s Tamil Girls School, Yatiyantota took the plate championship by overcoming Ruwanwella Central by 5 points to nil.

The Plate Trophy of the Under 14 Tournament was won by Buddhist College, Talduwa who beat Balangoda MV by 36 points to nil in the final while the Bowl championship was bagged by Pindeniye MV who beat Ihala Talduwa MV by 16 points to 7.

Over 200 rugby players from 16 boys schools and six girls schools from Sabaragamua Province took part in this tournament. The chief guest was former Kalani Valley Ruggerite Aron Singho, father of ex-Air Force ruggerite Air Vice Marshal R.A. Dayapala.

The Guest of Honour was Prasanna Amaratunge, Manager of Human Resources of MAS Active Synergy, Avissawella. The Tournament was organised by the Sabaragamua Province Rugby Football Union

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Commercial Bank clinch ‘A’ Division title at Mercantile Hockey Sevens

Sanjaya ARIYARATNE

HOCKEY: Commercial Bank posted a thrilling three goals to two win over Hatton National Bank `A’ after the scores read two all at the end of regular time to annex the `A’ division championship title of the 31st annual seven a side Mercantile Hockey Championship worked off at the Saravanamuttu stadium, Colombo a few days ago. The latter were the champions last year.

The tournament was conducted by the Mercantile Hockey Association to celebrate their golden jubilee year and sponsored by Browns limited. The tournament saw the cream of stickers in the island in action.

The going was tough for both teams in the final. The winners were leading one goal to nil at half time but Hatton National Bank came up with an improved performance in the latter part of the match where they equalled the scores at two all.

During extra time Commercial Bank recorded their winning goal to seal victory by three goals to two. Milan Ariyawansa was the hero for Commercial Bank scoring two goals while for Hatton National Bank M. Gazali scored a goal. Commercial Bank on their way to the final beat IBM Holdings by two goals to one, Singer Group by five goals to one, Sampath Bank by three goals to nil.

Before reaching the final Hatton National Bank beat Singer Group by three goals to nil, Sampath Bank by two goals to nil, Seylan Bank by two goals to nil.

Browns Group ended up winners in the `B’ division tournament when they beat Hatton National Bank `B’ easily by three goals to nil in the final. HSBC emerged `C’ division champions after defeating SriLankan Airlines convincingly by three goals ti nil.

In the `D’ division final Commercial Bank `A’ registered a narrow one goal to nil victory over Seylan Bank `B’. MJF Group overcame AWD Group comfortably by four goals to nil to clinch the `E’ division title.

Seylan Bank finished first in the `B’ division last year while Browns Group were the champions in the `C’ division last time. V & U Electronics clinched the `D’ division title last year with AWD Group taking the `E’ division crown.

Milan Ariyawansa of the winning Commercial Bank was adjudged the best player of `A’ division while Gayan Nissanka of Browns Group carried away the best player award in the division `B’. Sakithiya Jewagan of HSBC was awarded the most outstanding player prize in the `C’ division with T. Geeganage also from Commercial Bank being named as the top player in the `D’ division. D. Wickramasinghe of MTF Group took the best sticker award in the `E’ division. Nuwan Anju Hewage of Commercial Bank was awarded the special Hemaka D.S. Amarasuriya trophy for the outstanding young player of the year.

Runners up Hatton National Bank carried away the Dennis de Rosayro Fairplay trophy.

Selection trials

The selection trials for the under 16 Asia Cup which will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from November 17 to 25 will be held on October 8 and 9 at the Astro turf. The trials are conducted by the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation. The pool will be pruned down from 60 to 30 players after this trial.

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Eight hundred athletes for Colombo Marathon

ATHLETICS: Lanka Sportreizen, the organizer of the 8th Colombo Marathon, is quite hopeful of conducting the Event according to all international rules and regulations with the assistance of the officials of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka.

It is expected that around 800 athletes comprising foreigners of many nationalities and locals will face the starter at 6.00 a.m. at the Ministry of Sports Grounds at the Independence Square.

Non completion of some urgent road repairs in the original route has compelled the organizers to conduct the race along a new route from Wattala past Kandana, Ja Ela, Katunayake, Negombo - turning left just before the 1st Railway Crossing, past the Negombo Bus Stand - the 1st Road to the left running straight towards the beach, passing Browns Beach Hotel terminating at the Beach Park in Negombo.

It is heartening to note that there are a large number of Americans and French who have registered for different race categories while among the other nationalities are found - Indians, Malaysians, Germans, Japanese, Swiss, Israeli, British etc. Organisers are of the view that they will see the maximum number of foreign participants since the commencement of this Event this year which will be approximately 80.

A keen contest in the Full Marathons is expected with around 90 runners vying for honours while the Half Marathons will see approximately 200 runners. The rest will be fun loving people who are expected to join in for the 10km/5km races and will certainly add colour to the races.

The Traffic Division of the Sri Lanka Police assisted by all stations along the entire route will control the flow of traffic.

Ministry of Education has made attempts to popularize the Event by making arrangements for many of them to participate in different categories.

However as it has been learnt that inadequate time frames have resulted in many of the interested youngsters not being able to register themselves, the organizers have decided to allow any late entrants who desire to be part of this.

Event to present themselves at the Ministry of Sports Grounds between 9.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. on Saturday the 6th October 2007 where they can get their registrations and also face the Medical Examinations. It is expected that this step will accommodate the many requests that are being made by many in the outstations.

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Peterites win the triple crown in tennis

TENNIS: As the three major Schools Tennis Tournaments come to an end for the calendar year 2007, Preterites can look back with pride because they have made an indelible imprint, which would be difficult or nearly impossible for any other school to repeat.

For the first time in the history of the Schools Tennis Tournaments the Peterite tennis players have reached a level and achieved an achievement which no other school has been able to achieve before.

First the Preterites won the prestigious Overall Championship trophy for Inter-School Tennis in the All Island Inter Schools Boys Tennis Tournament. This they achieved in style by winning the championship in the Under 17 and Under 19 age groups and being runners up in the Under 11 and Under 13 age groups and finishing 3rd in the Under 15 age group.

They then went on to capture the most coveted Nationals Schools Tennis Championship Trophy. This tournament which is held only in the Under 19 age group was won by the Preterites for the first time in their history.

Then completing the “triple crown” the Peterite Mini - Tennis team who were the reigning Colombo regional champions galloped on to win the All Island Schools mini tennis tournament by registering a win over Prince College of Ratnapura in the finals to clinch the All Island Schools Mini-Tennis Championship Trophy. This was also the first time a boys school representing the Colombo region won the trophy.

Three Championship Trophies from the three Inter-School Tennis Tournaments. A clean sweep of the Inter-School Tennis Championship Trophies. An incredible and a praiseworthy achievement and performance by the Peterite Tennis players. What is notable is that only they have won the senior age groups but they have performed superbly even in the junior most age group of Under 8 in the Mini tennis tournament.

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Seetha Devi -hockey champions of School Games

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen Kandy Sports Corr.

HOCKEY: Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya emerged champions at the National School Games for the second year in succession when they beat their home town rivals.

Pushpadana Girls College 1-0 in the girls hockey finals organised by the Ministry of Education and played at the Astro Turf in Colombo. At half time Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya led 1-0.

Seetha Devi BV scored their winning goal midway in the first half off the stick of centre forward Buddhika Nelum Kumari. Ajith Jayasena and Indrawansa Herath umpired.

In the Semi-finals Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya beat Visakha Vidyalaya 1-0. Pushpadana Girls College edged out Yasodara Vidyalaya 1-0 on penalty strokes.