Peradeniya and Sabaragamuwa Universities grab Men’s and Women’s hockey titles
View(s):Peradeniya and Sabaragamuwa Universities walked away as champions in the Men’s and Women’s categories of Sri Lanka University Games Hockey Tournament at the Matara Uyanwaththa Football House grounds last week.
In the Men’s final Peradeniya defeated Colombo University 1-0 in a tense battle while in the Women’s final women undergrads from Sabaragamuwa emerged winners when they scored a 2-1 win over Sri Jayawardenapura University.
Twelve university teams islandwide with three teams in four groups played in both categories. The winners and runners-up qualified to the quarter finals.
Rajarata, Jaffna, Jayawardenapura and Moratuwa topped the Men’s groups winning all their games while Colombo, Peradeniya, Sabaragamuwa and Ruhuna ended as runners-up qualified to the quarters.
In the first quarter-final saw Peradeniya beating Jaffna 2-0 and in the other three quarters Colombo, Ruhuna and Rajarata won their matches defeating Moratuwa, Jayawardenapura and Sabaragamuwa.
The two semi-finals between Colombo /Ruhuna and Peradeniya/Rajarata ended with wins to Colombo and Peradeniya. In the all important final between Peradeniya and Colombo saw Peradeniya squeezed past the Colombo team 1-0 to walk away as Men’s champions.
In the Women’s section Rajarata, Kelaniya, Sabaragamuwa and Sri Jayawardenapura topped their respective groups were joined by Moratuwa, Peradeniya, Jaffna and Colombo as group runners-up to the quarter-finals.
Sri Jayawardenapura battled with Jaffna in the first semi-finals while in the second semi-final Sabaragamuwa locked horns with Colombo. Sri Jayawardenapura and Sabaragamuwa made their way to the finals.
This year’s curtain came down of the Sri Lanka University Hockey Tournament as lasses of Sabaragamuwa University were crowned as Women’s champions.
– Lakshman Ranasinghe