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Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
Tuesday, 17 May 2016 00:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The tournament commenced at the P. Sara Oval with glorious sunshine on Saturday with the participation of 68 men’s teams and 36 women’s teams, matches conducted simultaneously on four pitches.
At the completion of the first day’s play the following eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals in the women’s tournament - Siyapatha Finance, Union Bank, Seylan Bank, Alliance Finance, Bank of Ceylon, Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank (HNB) and State Mortgage & Investment Bank (2014 runners-up).
The 2015 women’s winner, Central Bank of Sri Lanka was beaten by Siyapatha Finance in the pre-quarter finals.
Fourteen teams have advanced to the pre-quarter final stage, in the men’s tournament; LOLC Micro, Peoples Leasing, HNB Grameen, Arpico Finance, Sanasa Development (from the top half) and Muslim Commercial Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Mercantile Investments, Central Finance, Vallibel Finance, Sarvodaya Development Bank, Singer Finance and Commercial Credit & Finance (from the bottom half).
The remaining two qualifiers for the pre-quarter finals will be known after the match between 2014 winner Nations Trust Bank and Asia Asset Finance as well as the match between Commercial Bank and LOLC are completed.
A glittering opening ceremony took place on Saturday morning with the patronage of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Arjuna Mahendren, Banks Association Secretary General Upali de Silva and CRIB Director/General Manager Gamini Karunaratne.
The tournament was indefinitely postponed and will continue from where it left off on a new date at the same venue.