The annual Colombo League Hockey tournament which is organized by the Colombo Hockey Association started off in August and the ‘A’ division matches saw finish today at the Astro Turf Colombo.
In this year’s competition there are five men’s teams participating in the ‘A’ division for the Andriesz shield. Further, four women’s teams will be competing for the President’s trophy in this league tournament.
The first scheduled match was between Gymkhana Club and Old Nalanda hockey club. It was the Old Nalandians who took control over the ball and was leading from the very start of the match. Gymkhana implemented offensive strategies but was unable to beat the strong defense of Nalandians. As the match ended, Jeewantha Edrisinghe, Bodhika Dias and Pubudu Saranga scored one goal each for Old Nalanda club as the final score read 3-0 in favour of Old Nalanda.
The first match in the Women’s category was in between University of Jayawardanapura and Malays Club. In the first few minutes both the teams played very energetically and displayed equal skills throughout the match. Several attempts at scoring from either party failed since they both had a balance defensive and offensive aspect. However, after a very tight game Malays’ nosed ahead to win 1-0.
The game that took place in between Gymkhana club and Old Ananda was very aggressive, but the Ananda Hockey club took the lead by scoring one goal in the first half. Event thought many attempts were unsuccessful for Gymkhana they were lucky enough to score 2 goals against the opposition as the match ended with the Old Anandians matched the two goals on top of their first half goal to finish off victor 3-2.
In the following women’s match, Malay’s hockey club once again registered their victory by defeating Colts hockey club with a score of 4-0. The game that was displayed by Malay’s hockey club were balanced in every aspect and this made Colts club difficult to score a goal.
The match between CH & FC ‘A’ and BRC was one of the key matches that took place today after the lunch break. CH & FC has already registered their victory in four matches in the ‘A’ division therefore; they entered the courts with many hopes and with psychological advantage. Both the teams played an excellent game where they displayed good skills and tactics. It was a neck to neck but CH were superior scoring three goals. However, in return BRC managed to score two goals to reduce the deficit.
CH & FC ‘A’ team managed to top the ‘A’ division in Colombo league and grab the 2017 Andiesz Championship while Old Nalandians and BRC hockey clubs secured 2nd and 3rd place respectively in the tournament.
