4th Matale Thomians Hockey Sevens on 3 June

By Shamzeer Jaleel

The much-awaited 4th Matale Thomians All-Island Schools Hockey Sevens 2018 will be worked off on 3 June at Edward Park in the hockey crazy city of Matale from 7.30 a.m.

The main sponsors of this tournament are Singer Sri Lanka and People’s Bank.

There will be 28 Under-20 teams representing leading hockey-playing schools at this famous annual Sevens encounter. They are St. Thomas’ Matale, Vijaya, Zahira, Christ Church and Sirimavo Bandaranaike from Matale, Royal, S. Thomas’ Mount Lavinia, Ananda, Nalanda, Wesley, D.S., St. Benedict’s, St. Peter’s and Prince of Wales from Colombo, Trinity, Dharmaraja, Kingswood and St. Sylvester’s from Kandy, Dharmadutha from Badulla, Jaffna Central and St. John’s from Jaffna, Maris Stella from Negombo, Joseph Vaz from Wennappuwa, Gampaha Bandaranayake, St. Thomas’ from Matara, and St. Aloysius’ and Mahinda from Galle.

The winners will receive the A.J. Wijesinghe Memorial Challenge Trophy while the first runner-up will receive the late A.P.B. Harasgama Challenge Trophy. The Late Squadron Leader C.K. Hulangamuwa Trophy will be presented to the second runner-up. The Player of the Tournament will receive the Ranjith Wijekoon Challenge Trophy. The Upcoming Player of the Tournament will receive the Dampiya Wanasinghe Trophy and the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament will receive the M. Mahesratnam Challenge Trophy. All award-winners will also receive cash prizes. 

Last year Christ Church College, Matale won the championship while Maris Stella College, Negombo and St. Aloysius’ College, Galle were first runner-up and second runner-up respectively.

The following 10 hockey players will be presented with golden awards for their commitments towards hockey: Kemangani Suwarnamali Aluwihare (BMS College), Hameed Mohamed Thahir (Zahira College), Themiya Liyanage (Vijaya College) and Old Thomians Matale’s M.I.M. Anzar, Mahendran Kulandawelu, Mahinda Deegahawatura, Milton Gunawardana, K.J. Kahanda and Indrawansa Herath.