Sri Lanka’s water polo heavyweights Navy outclassed Royal College Colombo while Visakha Vidyalaya stunned the Navy Women’s team to take home the Men’s and Women’s water polo national titles at the 2016 edition of the Sri Lanka National Men’s & Women’s Water Polo Championship held at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool Complex.

Starting off another final in style, the sailors scored five goals in the opening quarter and in reply the Royalists scored only two. The second quarter saw the Royalist scoring three goals ahead of Navy’s two.

The third and fourth quarters were evenly contested but the deficit created in the 1st quarter was a huge steep to climb for the Royalist as Navy sealed their second title for 2016 winning 13-9. Navy scored three goals each in the third and fourth quarters while the Royalists had the luck of scoring only two in each quarter.

For the sailors it was skipper Shehan Dassanayake who top scored with four goals followed by Shan Lakshitha and Yahan Samarajeewa who contributed with two goals each. Thisura Thamanegama, Akila Watareka, Kanitha Munasinghe, Wasim Marikkar Bawa and Poorna Kankanige chipped in with one goal each for their 13 goal tally.

Royal skipper Kisal Assalarachchi, Shamod Edirisinghe and Daishike Dias scored two goals each for the team while the rest of the goals came from the efforts of Dilisha De Fonseka, Basith Yakoob and Anthony Wijayawardena.

In third place in the Men’s division was Army who defeated Air Force 7-6 in the third place play-off.

It was a close call for the Visakhians where they edged the Navy Women’s team to win the final 4-3. An exceptional display by the Visakhians in the fourth quarter with two goals coming from the efforts of Nadishka Senanayake and Tusari Ekanayake sealed the title for the Visakhians.

The Navy women had the perfect start with goals coming from the efforts of Charya Dharmadasa followed by Isuri Beneragama and A. H. P. De Zoysa but could not score any in the fourth quarter. For Visakha, the goals were scored by Tusari Ekanayake (2), Shaleena Peiris and Nadishka Senanayake.

Visakha Vidyalaya will finish their 2016 season on a high note retaining the M. N. Edussooriya trophy and the Water Polo Nationals title while Royal College will be contempt with their performance at nationals to come back having lost the Hayman trophy.