Central Province hockey tournament fields 25 schools

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Central Province Schools Under 19 Hockey Championship, organised by the Department of Education of the Central Province, will be worked off at the Bernard Aluwihare Stadium and Edward Park in Matale from today until 18 June.

The competition will feature 12 girls’ and 13 boys’ schools. The tournament will be played on a knockout basis and the opening and closing ceremonies will be held at Edward Park while matches will be also played at the Bernard Aluwihare Stadium. The championship for boys will be played today.

The participating teams are St. Thomas’ College Matale, Vijaya College, Christ Church College, Texila MV, Zahira College, Dharmaraja College, Trinity College, St. Sylvester’s College, Kingswood College, Vidyartha College, Madina Central College, Hewaheta Central College and Sri Sumangala College.

The girls’ championship will begin tomorrow. The schools that will take to the field in this segment are Seetha Devi BV, St. Anthony’s Girls’ College, Pushpadana Girls’ College, Kandy Girls’ High School, Swarnamali BV, Gothami BV, Hemamali BV, Samudra Devi BV, Sangamitta BV, Hewaheta Central and Christ Church College.

The semifinals of both tournaments will be played on 18 June. This tournament will see the top three boys’ and girls’ schools from each segment qualifying to play at the National School Games.