Defence Services and Schools enter quarter finals

Chris Dhambarage

Defending champions Defence Services HA and Sri Lanka Schools HA were the first teams to book their places in the quarter-finals of the 51st Senior National Hockey Championships conducted by the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation and continued at the Police Park yesterday.

Defence Services HA topped the group ‘A’ with the maximum points while Sri Lanka Schools HA finished as the runners up in this group.

Defence Services HA received a walk over from Matara HA in their final group match of the tournament.

Meanwhile Colombo HA and Galle HA are vying for honours in group ‘B’ following two impressive victories against the Nationalised Services HA and Uva HA respectively. The stickers from Colombo routed Nationalised Services HA by six goals to nil after leading 4-0 at half time.

J. Jayasundera and N. Imran netted two goals each while M. Hallaj and C. Nishantha scored a goal each for the winners. Galle HA also cruised to a convincing four goals to nil victory over Uva HA after leading 3-0 at the breather.

S. Priyalanka, A. Sampath, L. Nanayakkara and V. Suriayrachchi scored a goal each for Galle HA.

Meanwhile in group ‘C’ Matale HA and Mercantile HA kept their hopes alive of reaching the quarterfinals while recording two good victories against the Combined Universities and Jaffna HA respectively.

Matale HA edged out the Combined Universities 4-2 after leading 2-0 at half time. M. Marapona scored twice while P. Weerakkody and G. Gunapala netted a goal each for Matale HA while W. Fernando scored both goals for the losers.

In contrast Mercantile HA went on a scoring spree as they trounced Jaffna HA by six goals to nil after having led 3-0 at half time. N. Ariyawansa was responsible for three goals while D. Weerasinghe, S. Lewke and M. Irshan scored a goal each.

The quarter-finals will be worked off today and the final is scheduled for Sunday at the same venue.