Police
shoot down Air Force
Hey
thats my ball says Police number five. Action at the
inter-club rugby encounter between Air Force and Police
which was played at Katunayake yesterday. Police beat
Air Force by 41 points to 5. Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara. |
By
M.Shamil Amit
The Police rugby team proved too much for the Air Force when
they were beaten neck and crop by 41 points (three goals and
five tries) to 5 (one try) in the 2002 Inter Club 'A' Division
League Rugby Tournament played at the Air Force grounds in
Katunayake yesterday. The winners led 22-0 at the breather.
When
play began in the first half the Policeman playing fast open
rugby gave the impression that a big score was awaiting at
the end of the days play. The Police wing three quarter Nilusha
Fernando was the pick of the players with his robust run down
the line when he opened scoring in the eighth minute of the
game with Harshana Wijeweera making no mistake with the conversion.
With this
try the match gained momentum with Air Force making headway
to their opponents territory but failing to score. It took
another fifteen minutes for the next try to be scored when
hooker Asela Muthumala went over for a try to give the Police
a 12-0 nil lead. Immediately after that Air Force was awarded
a penalty which was fluffed by full back Ranjith Anthony.
The Police
playing a relaxed game increased their tally with a try from
wing three quarter Chammika Thushara with the conversion going
astray. The Air Force were successful in most of the line
outs but was not able to get the points on the board. Moments
before the breather the Police second rower Pradeep Wilson
intercepted a pass and put a solo run to score the fourth
try for them. Lemons were taken with the Policeman leading
22-0.
Coming
back in the second half Air Force playing to a plan surprised
their opponents when they opened scoring in the sixth minute
through winger Krishan Guneratne.
Ranjith Anthony's kick went astray. Police too returned fire
for fire with scrum half Anjelo Silva scoring under the post
and Harshana goaling it. The score reading 27-5 in favour
of Police.
The jumping
in the lineouts by either teams were shared. Wing three quarter
Nilusha Fernando made the opening for the Policeman scoring
the next try when Asela Muthumala recieving a pass went over
for a try. Nilusha was on full fire working his way through
and making sharp moves which had the Air Force team guessing.
In the dying stages of the match Nilusha increased the Police
score when in a five yard scrum he barged over to score his
second try of the match which was also the last scoring done
in the game.
The season
which is in its infancy with many teams just beginning their
fixtures. The kick at goal for the Police team should improve
with many kicks going astray. Former place kicker of the Police
side Charles Wijewardena comes to mind. Charles was a match
winner for the Policeman in the 70's and 80's.
Referee: Anil Jayasinghe.
Emmanuel
keeps Lanka's hopes alive
Sri
Lanka's number two N.S.Nishendran in action at the World
Junior Tennis Championship. Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara. |
Sri Lanka's
tennis star Franklyn Emmanuel kept the local teams hopes alive
of qualifying to the semi finals of the World Junior Tennis
Championship Asia/Oceania Qualifying Zone in progress now
at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts in Greenpath Colombo.
When he was engaged in a an unfinished singles encounter with
Australian number one junior player Todd Ley. The match played
under floodlights due to a late start to the mornings proceeding
because of overnight rain. Franklyn began his match with a
comfortable first set (6/4) win over his opponent.
But Todd
Ley fought back to win the next set 6/3. In the deciding third
set Todd Ley was leading 4/3 when the rain put a stop to the
game. The match will be continuid today at 9.00 a.m. Earlier
in the first match Sri Lanka's number two N.S.Nishendran lost
to Australian number two Stephen Fotakis 6/4, 5/7, 4/6. In
the morning yesterday the Sri Lankan pair put up a stunning
display of tennis to overcome the more fancied Japanese who
are seeded fourth beating them 3-0. The Lankans finished their
round robin stage with a hundred percent record winning all
their three games having earlier defeated Uzbekistan and Malaysia.
After
the round robin natches the teams to qualify to the quarter
finals were Korea, Hong Kong, India, Australia, Sri Lanka,
China and Thailand.The quarter final round up were Korea vs
Thailand, China vs Hong Kong, India vs Japan and Sri Lanka
vs Australia. Number one seeded Korea were given a tough before
they ousted unseeded Thailand 2-1, China seeded number two
defeated unseeded Hong Kong 2-0 and India seeded five overcame
fourth seeded Japan 2-1 respectively.
The match
between Sri Lanka and Australia was stopped because of the
rain. Korea will play India and China will be pitted against
the winners of Sri Lanka vs Australia to decide the 1st, 2nd
and 3rd positions today.
Results
of quarter finals:
Korea beat Thailand 2-1- Ju Hae Mun (K) beat Worapat Arthiratpunya
(T) 6/3, 6/0. Peerachat Chaiyapan (T) beat Yo Sub Yoon 1/6,
6/3, 6/4. Jua Hae Mun and Yo Sub Yoon (K) beat Anuchit Adirojananon
and Peerachat Chaiyapan (T) 7/6 (7), 6/2.
China beat Hong Kong 2-0- Peiji A (China) beat Chung
Wong (H) 6/2, 6/0. Hao Zhu (C) beat Kwok Yeung (H) 6/4, 6/2.
India beat Japan 2-0- Rupesh Roy (I) beat Fumiaki Kita
(J) 6/2, 6/4. Prakash Gupta (I) beat Takaru Yamamoto (J) 6/3,
6/1.- MSA
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