Seetha Devi Hockey Sevens on May 30 and 31

S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen

Kandy Sports Correspondent

It will be two days of hockey extravaganza in the hill capital when the 17th annual Seetha Devi Hockey Sevens organised by Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya and sponsored by Bank of Ceylon will be worked off at the Asgiriya International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Saturday and Sunday (May 30 and 31) with play commencing at 8 a.m. on both days.

The cream of hockey talent in the island will be seen in action at this all island seven-a-side hockey tournament for boys and girls and men and women which is called the "Bank of Ceylon Super Sevens".

Prime mover of this tournament and the long standing hockey coach of Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya who had guided them to many national championship titles M.A.M. Ashroff said that this year there will be a change in the format of the tournament as all quarter finalists will play in a final which will be categorised as Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield. The winners of the Cup semi-finals will go into the Cup finals.

The two losers in the semi-finals will battle it out in the plate finals. The other two winners of the quarter-finals will be in the Bowl Finals and the losers of all in the shield finals.

Ashroff said that the opening ceremony will be graced by the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation and former national hockey player Gamini Jayasinghe. School Western bands will be on display.

The chief guest at the Awards Ceremony will be Chief Legal Officer of Bank of Ceylon M. Giridaran who is also the President of Bank of Ceylon Sports Club. Also gracing the occasion will be former Test Cricketer Brendon Kuruppu.

St. Benedict's College are the defending champions in the schools tournament for boys and the other teams which have entered the fray are: Nalanda, Ananda, Zahira, Royal, Wesley, Prince of Wales, Dharmapala (all from Colombo District), St. Sylvester's, Kingswood, Dharmaraja, Trinity, Vidyartha, Sri Sumangala (all from Kandy district). Vidyaloka, Mahinda, Siridhamma, Richmond (all from Galle District), Vijaya, Christ Church, St. Thomas (all from Matale District), Maris Stella, Bandaranaike NS (both from Gampaha District), Joseph Vaz, Wennappuwa, Zahira, Mawanella and Uva College, Badulla.

Pushpadana Girls College, Kandy are the defending champions among girls schools. The schools which will be seen in action in this segment are: Ladies College, Gothami BMV and Yasodara BMV, Gampaha (all from Colombo district), Seetha Devi BMV, Girls High School, Pushpadana Girls College, Hemamali BMV, St. Anthony's Girls College, Swarnamali BMV (all from Kandy District), Vijaya College, Sangamiththa BMV and Christ Church College (all from Matale District) and Vihara Maha Devi BMV, Badulla.

Seetha Devi Sports Club, Kandy are the defending champions in the tournament for ladies and this competition will feature Seetha Devi SC, Colts SC, Colombo, Sri Lanka Navy 'A', University of Colombo, Sri Lanka Navy 'B', University of Peradeniya, Yasodara SC, and University of Moratuwa.

Sri Lanka Army became champions at last year's tournament for men edging out Sri Lanka Air Force in the final: The teams which will battle it out here are Sri Lanka Navy 'A' and 'B', Sri Lanka Army 'A' and 'B', Sri Lanka Police 'A' and 'B', Sri Lanka Air Force 'A' and 'B', University of Colombo, University of Moratuwa, University of Peradeniya, Christ Church SC, Wennappuwa SC, Old Bens SC, Vijaya SC, Park Sc, Old Vidyarthians SC, Old Cambrians SC, Maris Stella SC.