Visakha breaks deadlock with forceful win

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Category: waterpolo

Published on Thursday, 20 October 2011 23:29

Written by Rhaya Page

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All those who witnessed the 8th annual Ladies’ College vs. Visakha Vidyalaya water polo encounter at the Police Sports Club Swimming pool could agree on one thing, the atmosphere was electrifying and intense. Both schools cheered their school teams on with enthusiasm, indeed giving the team’s tremendous support.

The tournament started with the Under 15 match, where Visakha won 7-4 after having a 3 point lead in the first quarter.

The much anticipated Under 19 match then commenced and both teams tried desperately to make their mark within the first few minutes of the game. Visakha got the upper hand when they went on “attack” and vice captain Varuni Ekanayake wasted no time in getting the Visakhians’ their first goal. In the conclusion of the first quarter, goalie and captain of the Ladies’ team, Sachini Rajanayake made a brilliant save, that kept Ladies’ in the game.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the score was in favor of the Visakhian’s as the goal shot by Charindee Weerasinghe brought the score to 2-0. Sachini Rajanayake however managed to block Visakhians’ from scoring further goals with two impressive saves. Ekanayake then broke the shackles and scored for Visakha bringing the score to 3-0 at the end of the second quarter.

The Visakha deputy skipper Varuni Ekanayake showed the way for the home team as she used all her experience to score two vital goals. The ‘Visakha wall’ was at work from the start of the game and made life hard for the LC front liners to score.  There was however some crucial blunders made by the referees which cost both teams.

Rajanayake then came back in the third quarter for the Ladies’ saving two more goals once again. Yoshini Liyanage helped the Visakhian’s to bring the score to 4-0,leading them into a comfortable 4th quarter.

Throughout the match Rajanayake proved to be a tremendous asset to the LC-ites and started the fourth quarter with an impeccable save. With the help of their vice captain, Dharitri Amarasekera the Ladies’ went on to score their first goal. However, Visakha stole the show with a remarkable goal made by Charindee Weerasinghe who scored her 2nd of the night. While the chances for a Ladies’ winning were bleak, Dharini Speldewinde kept up the spirit of the match by scoring again for the Ladies’ bringing the score to 5-2 in favor of the Visakhians.

The final whistle then blew, and a loud cheer resonated from the Visakha-camp evidently stating that the Visakhians’ have taken this year’s Edussuriya Challenge trophy, and that they have successfully broken the tie that they held with Ladies’ in the past 8 years. It was clear that the Visakhian played to a certain game plan and it’s fair to say that the Visakha coaches, Zafar Zainudeen and Rovini Illukkumbura have delivered as promised.

Click here for more pictures of the event

Click on the below for the pre-match interviews of the 8th annual LC-VV encounter

Visakha Vidyalaya- Shivani Gunawardene and Varuni Ekanayake, Zafar Zainudeen and Rovini Illukkumbura

Ladies College- Bilal Hassen, Sachini Rajanayake and Darithri Amarasekera

 

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