Tharjini pilots Seylan Bank to victory
S M Jiffrey Abdeen, - Kandy Sports Correspondent
A superb performance by Tharjini Sivalingam saw Seylan Bank scoring a
comfortable 78-57 victory over Hatton National Bank in the finals of the
13th Netball Nationals organized by the Sri Lanka Netball Federation and
worked off at the Nittawela grounds, Kandy yesterday. At half time
Seylan Bank led 39-28.
Standing at six feet 10 inches Tharjini Sivalingam from Jaffna
clearly dominated the finals both in attack and defence and her sharp
shooting was her forte. She scored 77 of the 78 points scored by Seylan
Bank.
She gave no chance for the opponents’ goal attack Dharshika
Abeywickrama who was completely over shadowed. Sivalingam standing just
one foot below the shooting net even collected the rebounds with ease.
Her team made use of her height to send high passes to bemuse their
opponents.
For Hatton National Bank Shashika Samarasinghe scored 45 of the 57
points.
In the semi-finals Seylan Bank beat Police 65-46 and Hatton National
Bank beat Air Force 47-38.
The quarter finals did not come off as four teams namely Colombo
University, Schools Team, Campbell Park SC and Speed Max SC pulled out
of the tournament in protest of the quarter-final draw. The organisers
tried their best to defuse the situation but the protesting teams stuck
to gums.
Sri Lanka Air Force clinched the third place 32-29 after a gruelling
battle.
Sports Minister C B Ratnayake was the chief guest and he distributed
the main awards along with Provincial Councillors Shanthini Kongahage,
Hafiz Marikkar MMC and Parliamentarian Dilum Amunugama.
Awards
Best shooter: Tharjini Sivalingam (Seylan Bank).
Best Centre: Sanduni Bollegala (Seylan Bank).
Best Attacking Player: Dharshika Abeywickrama (Hatton National Bank).
Best Defensive Player: Dhanushika Malkanthi (Hatton National Bank).
Best Outstation Player: Prasadini Widanagamage (Kandy SC).
Netball Queen: Thahaliya Kumari (Seylan Bank). |
