56th National Hockey Championship:

Mercantile rout Gampaha HA

Sajeewa JAYAKODY

Mercantile Hockey Association scored a thumping 22-0 victory over Gampaha HA yesterday at the 56th National Hockey Championship match on the Astro Turf, Reid Avenue, Colombo. It was a minnow bashing game, as Mercantile team, comprising of four national players – Anju Hewage, Diluka Weerasuriya, Milina Hapugasgoda and H S Hettiarachchi, looked positive from the beginning, finishing the first half with a 11-0 lead.

Commercial Bank’s Anju Hewage hammered 10 goals against minnow Gampaha HA, who let down themselves by providing a lot of open spaces and letting the Mercantile team dictate terms. Hewage struck the first goal in the second minute and hit home the second one in the third minute. Sri Lanka national player Hewage had four goals in a row in the 17th, 19th, 21st, and 26th minutes. Sri Lanka junior player A Alles netted six goals hitting home the final goal from a well-executed shot in the 60th minute.

At the end of the second day, six teams have qualified for the quarter-finals stage. Defence Services, Schools HA, Colombo HA, Galle HA, Kegalle HA and Combined University will confront to book their place in the semi-finals today.

Defence Services Hockey Association will take on Sri Lanka Schools HA and Galle HA will meet Kegalle HA in the quarter finals while the other two teams will be decided after the State Services and Matale match, which was abandoned due to bad light last evening. Stickers from the sixteen teams have been drawn into four Groups. The Groups stage matches were worked off on Astro Turf and at Narahenpita Shalika ground from Friday. The quarter-finals and the semifinals will be played today with starting the Group ‘D’ match between Matale and State Services at 7am. The semi-finals will be played from 3pm.