CPHA and Pushpadana Under 19 hockey champions

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports correspondent

Central Province Hockey Academy (Boys under 19), Pushpadana Girls College (Girls under 19), St. Sylvester's College (Boys under 15) and St. Anthony's Girls College, Kandy (girls under 15) became champions at the inaugural Central Province Inter-School hockey tournament organised by the Central Province Minister of Sports and worked off at the Nandimithra Hockey Stadium, Matale.

In the boys under 19 finals Central Province Hockey Academy beat Kingswood College, Kandy 3-2 on penalty strokes.

The scores at the end of regulation time stood at one-all and at half time there was no scoring. M. Jaffran scored for Central Province Academy while Sanka Ranaweera sounded the boards for Kingswood College.

Pushpadana Girls College won the girls under 19 championship by defeating Central Province Hockey Academy 1-0 in a thriller. At half time there was no scoring.

Centre forward Chathurika Ekanayake scored the winning goal for Pushpadana Girls College midway in the second half. St. Anthony's Girls College, Kandy won the under 15 girls championship by trouncing Hemamali Balika Vidyalaya Kandy 6-0 after leading 3-0 at half time.

Centre forward Amila Fernando was in spanking form with the stick scoring three goals at different stages of the game. Left extreme Kalpani Dissanayake scored two goals and centre half Madhushani Udukumbura scored the sixth goal.

The under 15 boys finals saw St. Sylvester's College scoring an easy 6-1 win over Central Province Hockey Academy. At half the Sylvestrians led 3-1.

For the Sylvestrians Lahiru Jayawardena (2), Malinda Akila (1), S. Kulasekera (1), Sathis Kumara (1) and M. Marjan (1) sounded the boards. For CP Hockey Academy S. Dananjaya scored the solitary goal.

This tournament was a big success for the Central Province Hockey Academy which was started towards the end of last year and is being run at the Nandimithra International Hockey Stadium in Matale under the guidance of former Sri Lanka women's hockey captain and Nuwara Eliya District Sports officer Mrs Chandrika de Silva.