Sri Lanka Water Polo to hold League Championship after 6 years

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Sri Lanka Water Polo will hold the SLWP League Water Polo Championship this year after a lease of 6 years. This event will commence 30th June  and will run through to 27th July with a break in between.

The League championship was last played in 2008 and an unbeaten Royal College Water Polo team under the Captaincy of Bilal Hassan won the championship. 

This year there will be 7 men’s teams and 2 women’s teams competing for the league glory. Each team has been given an opportunity to hold one home match at a location of their choice and the remaining matches of that specific week will be played within the week at a location and a date chosen by the Sri Lanka Water Polo and Sri Lanka Aquatic Committee. Each team has been given the opportunity to declare 20 players for the tournament and the 13 players for each match should be declared before the specific game. 

The tournament will be held through 7 weeks and the teams will get the break after the 4th week due to the national teams tour of Hong Kong for the 16th Asia Pacific Water Polo Championship which will be held from the 15th- 17th August. The remaining matches will commence once the teams return from Hong Kong. 

In the Men’s section Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Old Thomian Swimming Club (OTSC) are the two strongest teams eyeing this year’s league glory followed by Royal College Union Aquatic Club (RCUAC). This year’s Novices Champions Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Ananda College Aquatic Club (ACAC), Nalanda College OBA (NCOBA) and SSC will also compete for league glory. 

Sri Lanka Navy comprises of a pool of  national players with national vice-captain Yahan Samarajeewa leading them. He will be supported by Shehan Dassanayake, Savith Warnapura, Musharraf Uwais, Wasim M. Bawa, Shan Lakshitha, Kanitha Munasinghe, Poorna Kankanige, Yasiru Ranaraja, Avinda Ruchira, Bhanuka Wijesundara and Shakthie Warnapura all of whom have represented the National Water Polo team in the past. 

The Old Thomian Swimming Club will be led by national captain Dhanushka Saram. OTSC will have the services of Hungarian ‘A’ division player and French Cup winner Adam Zoltan which will boost their chances of winning this year’s league. OTSC also includes Devushan De Mel, Dineth Fransis, Deelaka Weerarathna, Keshan Munasinghe, Chanuka ‘BACA’ Perera and Koasala Wijewardena who were part of national teams in the past and present.

RCUAC team will be led by national player Akila Weerasinghe and will be supported by national players Waleed Uwais, Rifat Uwais & Chandula Fernando. RCUAC will be eyeing to create the upset of the tournament by beating tournament favorites SLN and OTSC. 

Ananda Aquatics will be led by national youth player Oshada Madushaka. Nalanda, SSC and SLA also comprises of promising players who can perform at big stages. 

In the women’s segment Sri Lanka Navy and Visakha Vidyalaya Old Girls (VVOG) will be competing in a 5 leg series where the highest aggregate goal scoring team at the end of the 5th game will be declared as League Champions. In will be an interesting tussle between the 2 power house women’s teams in the country.

SLN team will be led by Isuri Beneragama and will have the services of National Captain Hashini Warnapura and National Vice-Captain Charya Dharmadasa. SLN also compromises of pool of national players including Deethri Samarajeewa, Yoshini Liyanage, Dharithri Amarasekara, Sachini Senevirathna and Charindi Weerasinghe.

VVOG will be led by national player Aneka Abeywickarama and will be supported by national players Tusari Ekanayake, Samakya Gayanayake and Shelina, Limashi Kosgoda.

It will be interesting tournament to witness as teams will compete each other’s for league glory after 6 long years.

Sri Lanka Water Polo League 2014        
               
  Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
SLA REST NCOBA ACOBA OTSC RCU SSC SLN
RCU OTSC SSC REST ACOBA SLA SLN NCOBA
OTSC RCU SLN NCOBA SLA SSC REST ACOBA
ACOBA SSC REST SLA RCU SLN NCOBA OTSC
NCOBA SLN SLA OTSC SSC REST ACOBA RCU
SLN NCOBA OTSC SSC REST ACOBA RCU SLA
SSC ACOBA RCU SLN NCOBA OTSC SLA REST

 

Men          
June 30th- July 6th (Dead Line to declare matches 25th June)
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 SLA REST      
2 SLN NCOBA SLN    
3 SSC ACOBA SSC    
4 RCU OTSC RCU    
(Women) 5  VV SLN VV    
           
July 7th – July 13th (Dead Line to declare matches 30th June)
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 NCOBA SLA NCOBA    
2 REST ACOBA      
3 SLN OTSC SLN    
4 SSC RCU SSC    
(Women) 5  SLN VV SLA    
           
July 14th – July 20th (Dead Line to declare matches 7th June)
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 SLA ACOBA SLA    
2 NCOBA OTSC NCOBA    
3 REST RCU      
4 SLN SSC SLN    
(Women) 5  VV SLN VV    
           
July 21st – July 27thDead Line to declare matches 14th June
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 OTSC SLA OTSC    
2 ACOBA RCU ACOBA    
3 NCOBA SSC NCOBA    
4 REST SLN      
(Women) 5  SLN VV SLA  

 

 

Week 5          
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 SLA RCU SLA    
2 OTSC SSC OTSC    
3 ACOBA SLN ACOBA    
4 NCOBA REST      
(Women) 5  SLA VV Rest    
           
Week 6          
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 SSC SLA SSC    
2 RCU SLN RCU    
3 OTSC REST      
4 ACOBA NCOBA ACOBA    
(Women) 5  SLA VV Rest    
           
Week 7          
           
# Home Away Host Date Time
1 SLA SLN SLA    
2 SSC REST      
3 RCU NCOBA RCU    
4 OTSC ACOBA OTSC    
(Women) 5  SLN VV SLASU