Under-15 ‘A’ Division Inter-School Basketball Championship
Ananda College, Colombo created history and a major upset as they won the All Island under-15 ‘A’ Division Basketball Championship beating the strong Royal College team 46-40 in a close encounter at Darley Road yesterday.
Ananda College, featured in the ‘B’ Division tournaments in this year’s under-17 and under-19 categories and even in those failed to go beyond quarter-finals. They got promoted to under-15 after a shock win over St. Benedict’s in the Zonal Tournament and on their way to the ‘A’ Division title they beat several fancied teams.
According to Ananda College coach Buddika Kumudathperuma (IP), this is the first time the school has won an ‘A’ Division title after 15 years.
Ananda College’s strategy to put their opponents in a foul trouble worked perfectly as Royal play maker Tharidu Balasuriya was on three fouls after five minutes of the game and that forced Royal coach Prasanne Jayasinghe to substitute his best player.
Ananda fought hard and made sure that they enjoyed a three point lead at the half way mark as the score read 23-20.
The turning point came in third quarter when Royal struggled to reach the opposition’s basket as the scoreboard failed to move. Ananda College extended their lead in the third quarter and went into the final quarter with good momentum behind them in the low scoring game.
Himsara Maneth top scored for Ananda with 17 points and was adjudged as the Most Outstanding Player of the final Yeshan Sasra scored eight points for them. Sasra was named as the best offensive player of the final.
For Royal College, Gimhan Ranasinghe top scored with 15 points and Rukshan Atapattu scored eight points.
Meanwhile in the consolation final, St. Joseph’s College, Darley Road recorded an easy 63-24 win over Colombo International School, Kandy
