Two foreign teams for Carlton Cup Cager Tourney

Bernard Perera

The inaugural Carlton Cup Open Basketball Tournament organised by Carlton Sports Club, the sports wing of the Tharunyata Hetak Organization will commence on September 12 and conclude on September 30.

The matches are to be worked off at two centres Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium and Police Park Basketball Courts, said Pium Perera, the Secretary of the Organization at the press briefing held on Tuesday.

Foreign participation

Eight 'A' Division Clubs are playing in this group along with two Maldivian teams, arriving in the Island soon after the Ramazan Festival.

This is the first occasion a club championship is played along with foreign participation. The Maldivian teams scheduled to arrive are the champions and runners up teams in Maldives Basketball Championship, Hurricane BC and T-Rex BC. These ten teams will play in two groups A and B.

The 'B' Division tournament will be played between 16 teams which will be divided into four groups A, B, C, and D.

No semi-finals

The highlight in this tournament will be that there will be no semi-finals. To make up for this the two top teams from each group play first with the runners up too play each other the winner of game two and the loser of game one play the final known as game three.

The 'B' Division teams will play the normal way up to the quarter finals and will later follow the same system as in the 'A' Division where three games will be played to find the winner in this Division.

The winner in the 'A' Division will receive the Carlton Cup and a cash award of Rs. 100,000 while the runners up get a purse worth Rs. 50,000. Meanwhile the 'B' Division winners will get a Trophy and Rs. 50,000 while the runners up in this category gets Rs. 25,000.

Sri Lanka Telecom and Solex Engineering Pvt. Ltd. have come forward to sponsor the event. Mrs. Vijitha Ratnayake, Corporate Officer SLT speaking said that SLT is committed to serve the nation not only its customers but also to promote sports in the country for a better future generation. She also added that Sri Lanka Telecom has been the biggest partner for many sports in the country which has brought good results, that is the main reason for us to be a partner for this first ever Mega Cager Tourney. She also thanked the Tharunyata Hetak Organization for giving the opportunity and also for taking a great interest in promoting sports mainly in the rural areas.

The first event

General Manager Solex Engineering Muditha Wijekulatilleke said that this is the first event his company undertook, as it is organised by an organization that helps the youth of this country.

Tharunyata Hetak's main theme is to give an opportunity to talented youth from rural areas to reach greater heights in this sphere. Sports is one part the organisation takes a keen interest. Basketball is a sport that is played by a limited amount of youth. This sport could be promoted immensely with this type of tournament.

Vital importance

It is also a happy occasion to see foreign participation for the first time in a Club Tourney. It will be of vital importance, players to improve their talents facing tough opposition.

The participating clubs 'A' Division. Carlton BC, Colombo BC, Colombo Bulls BC, Otter Aquatic Club, Sri Lanka Police BC, Sri Lanka Air Force BC, Wennappuwa Knights BC, Wattala BC, Harricane BC, Maldives, T-Rex BC, Maldives.

'B' Division - Buffoloe's BC, Old Wesleyites BC, Jayawardenapura University, All Greens BC, Old Bens SC, Field Force Youth BC, Dehiwala YMCA, Sri Lanka Navy BC, Old Anandians BC, Kandy Cagers BC, Joes BC, Vaasians BC, Wennappuwa, Moratuwa University BC, Moratuwa BC, Sri Lanka Army BC and Cambrians BC.