Royal and Visakha under 11 hockey champions

Sanjaya Ariyaratne

Royal College and Visakha Vidyalaya reigned supreme when they emerged under 11 boys and girls champions with an unbeaten record in the Colombo Schools Hockey Tournament worked off at the Astro turf, Reid Avenue, Colombo, recently. The tournament was conducted by the Colombo Schools Hockey Committee and sponsored by Sisil.

Royal College beat D.S. Senanayake College by a narrow margin of two goals to one after taking a slender one goal to nil lead at half time in the final. Captain Imaad Dole and Shakeer Bari were the goal scorers for the winners while Abdul Rahuman scored the only goal for the losers with two minutes before the final whistle.

Royal College kept their goal line uncrossed on their way to the final beating Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya (10-0), St. Benedict's College (10-0), Wesley College (8-0), Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa (7-0), S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (2-0). In the semi final Royal College beat Nalanda College (3-0). The winners were ahead with one goal to nil at half time. T. Karunaratne, M. Gamage and M. Farikkhan with one goal each stood out for Royal.

Visakha Vidyalaya defeated Janadipathi Vidyalaya, Nawala comprehensively by five goals to one to be crowned as girls under 11 champions for the third consecutive time. The winners ran up a close two goals to one lead at breather.

Skipper Yelani Perera and Sandali Sudusinghe scored two goals each with Indeesha Senarath netted one goal for the winners. Yelani Perera gave a fine display for Visakha team as she scored a massive 16 goals throughout the tournament which included three hatricks.

In the earlier matches Visakha Vidyalaya overcame Sirimavo BMV 4-1, Yasodhara BMV 8-4, Musaeus 1-0, Janadipathi Vidyalaya 3-1. Visakhians beat Musaeus again 1-0 in the semifinal.

Yelani Perera scored the winning goal for Visakha in the second half. Meanwhile, Chinthaka Dilshan (2) spearheaded Nalanda College to a two goals to one victory over Royal College to bag the under 15 boys hockey title played at the same venue. The winners were trailing one goal to nil at the short whistle. Minidu Allas (1) fought a lone battle for Royal.