Seetha Devi, Pushpadana joint hockey champs

S M Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Correspondent

Two top schools from the hill capital Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya and Pushpadana Girls College finished as joint champions when the finals ended in a scoreless draw at the 19th People’s Bank Super Sevens all island schools girls under 19 seven a side hockey championship organized by Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya and sponsored by People’s Bank and played at the Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy.

The finals turned out to be a gruelling battle as it was between two rival schools in the home in most tournaments in the past championship had been decided between these two schools.

Pushpadana Girls College went into finals after defeating Yasodara Balika Vidyalaya 2-0 in the semi-finals while Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya stormed into finals with a 4-0 win over Vihara Maha Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Badulla.

Despite several attempts by both teams to penetrate their opponents defence their respective defences held. A draw was the fitting result.

G G Dharmaratne and Dharshana Wijesinghe umpired.

Sakunthala Illeperuma of Seetha Devi BV was adjudged the Best goal keeper considering the fact that she brought off some good saves.

Samadara Chathurika also from Seetha Devi Balika Vidyalaya was adjudged the most outstanding player of the tournament for her attacking play especially in the semi-finals which helped her side to trounce the giant killers Vihara Maha Devi BV from Badulla by the comfortable margin of 4-0.

This tournament saw upsets with some of the top schools especially from Colombo being relegated to the lower rung of the championship.

Yasodara Vidyalaya, Colombo did extremely well to defeat Vihara Maha Devi BV, Badulla 2-0 to lift the plate championship. They led 1-0 at half time.

Sri Sumangala Balika Vidyalaya once again displayed that hockey at this school is on the upward trend by winning the Bowl Championship, after defeating Gothami Balika Vidyalaya 1-0. At half time there was no scoring.

The shield championship was lifted by Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo after defeating another school new to hockey St Joseph’s Girls College, Kegalle 1-0 in the final.

The Kegalle Girls put up plucky performance against the Colombo school which had more exposure to the game and also with more amenities.

A glittering awards ceremony followed with the Senior Manager People’s Bank, Kandy and former Sri Lanka goal keeper Kapila Dissanayake as the chief guest. He distributed the main awards.

Speaking on the occasion Kapila Dissanayake said that they are happy to sponsor a Major hockey tournament of this nature which brought in the best of teams from the country.

The fare dished out was not only exciting but was also entertaining to both players and spectators.