Basketball Nationals from February 15 to 23
Yasaratne Gamage
Head of Marketing and Public Affairs of Peoples Bank, Deepal
Abeysekara handing over the main sponsorship to Sri Lanka
Basketball Association President Chief Minister of Central
Province Sarath Ekanayake at Olympic House Auditorium on
Thursday. Also in the picture is Major General Janaka Ratnayake.
Picture by Mahinda Withanachchi
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The 49th Senior National Basket Ball Men and Women Championships
organized by Sri Lanka Basketball Federation will be held from February
15 to 23 on several venues in Colombo.
The championship which is the longest running basketball tournament
conducted by SLBF will consist of 36 teams where they battle in two
categories, division I and II in four venues.
There will be 432 cagers passing the ball in the highly competitive
courts while last year champions both men and women in the senior
category, Mercantile Services will strive to defend their titles.
Mercantile, SL Schools, Puttalam, Gampaha and SL Navy are in group A
while SL Air Force, Hambantota, SL Army, Colombo and SL Police are lined
up in group B in men’s division 1.
In men’s division 2, University, Jaffna, Kurunegala and Matara are
listed in group A. The group B consist of Kandy, Batticaloa, Galle and
Badulla.
Men’s division 3 matches are between Ratnapura, Vavuniya and
Polonnaruwa who are in group A and group B teams, Kegalla, Killinochchi
and Matale.
In women’s division 1, Mercantile, SL Navy, SL Schools, SL Air Force
and Colombo will compete while in division 2 group A teams, Kurunegala,
Kandy and University will meet Matale, Puttalam, Jaffna and Galle that
are group B.
Attractive cash prizes are on offer apart from the challenge trophies
for the winners. Speaking at a press briefing held on Thursday at
Olympic House Auditorium SLBF president Central Province Chief Minister
Sarath Ekanayake thanked the main sponsor, People’s Bank and the co
sponsor Lanka Tiles Pvt Ltd for their support for the tournament.
Molten has come forward to sponsor the official ball for this year
and for the next three years. |