Air Force - men’s hockey champions

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Correspondent

Sri Lanka Air Force ‘A’ became men’s champions while Sri Lanka Navy and Seetha Devi Sports Club ‘A’ emerged Women’s Joint champions at the 11th Old Vijayans All Island Inter-club Men’s and Women’s Seven-a-Side Hockey Championship organised by the Matale Old Vijayans and played at the Nandimithra Ekanayake International Hockey Stadium in Matale on Sunday.

The women’s finals between the defending champions Seetha Devi Sports Club ‘A’ and Sri Lanka Navy ended in a scoreless draw and no extra time was permitted and the two teams were declared joint champions. This decision was later to end up in confusion and delay in the men’s finals.

In the semi final Seetha Devi SC beat Old Vijayans SC 1-0 with Samudra Chandrika scoring the winning goal.

In the second semi-final Sri Lanka Navy beat Sangamitha SC 1-0. Centre forward Maneesha Dissanayake sounded the boards for Navy.

Men’s Championship

Sri Lanka Air Force ‘A’ beat Sri Lanka Police ‘B’ 4-1 in the finals to lift the Men’s Championship after extra time was ordered. At half time Air Force led 1-0.

Air Force who played constructive hockey took an early lead through a fine goal by G. H. J. Ganegoda.

But after the tournament the Policemen equalised through S. Sandaruwan which resulted in the match ending in a one all draw.

According to the tournament rules there was provision for extra time of five minutes each to break the deadlock. The two umpires too appeared to be unaware of this rule.

The police team too appeared to be in the dark and refused to continue with the match, protesting that the result is a draw and the two teams be declared Joint Champions.

A good 15 minutes of play was lost while the two umpires consulted the Organising Committee for a ruling when one team was willing to play while the other refusing to continue.

Police team expected the same rule as in the case of women’s finals be applied here too. The tournament rules were shown and the Police team reluctantly agreed to continue with the game.

A couple of minutes after resumption Sri Lanka Air Force struck with a goal off a penalty corner through the stick of M. Mulaffer who ran around with his index finger up and this annoyed Police player G. B. Dissanayake and a little verbal violence was witnessed. Both players were shown the yellow card by the umpires.

Two more goals through G. H. J. Ganegoda and Sameera Perera saw the Airmen win by a comfortable margin of 4-1.

Indika Jayawardena and Mahesh Abeywickrema umpired.

In the semi-finals Sri Lanka Air Force beat Army 1-0 and Police ‘B’ beat Navy 3-2 on penalty strokes after the match ended in a scoreless draw. In the championship for Veterans over 40, Park Sports Club beat CH and FC 1-0. There was no scoring in the first half.

Centre forward and skipper Indrawansa Herath scored the winning goal for Park Sports Club.

Boys Under 14 championship

Christ Church College, Matale and Zahira College Matale figured in a scoreless draw to end up as joint champions in the Boys Under 14 championship.

In the semi-finals Zahira College beat St. Thomas College 1-0 and Christ Church College defeated Dharmaraja College, Kandy 1-0.