Defending National Champions and this year’s Sri Lanka League Water Polo Champions Sri Lanka Navy are in for a stiff challenge to defend their titles at the National Water Polo Championship which will be held at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool Complex from the 21st- 23rd of November 2014.
RCUAC and OTSC teams are expected to be Navy’s biggest challenge at this year’s championships.
7 men’s teams and 3 women’s teams will compete for National Glory this year and the men’s teams are Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Royal College Union Aquatic Club (RCUAC) ‘A’ & ‘B’ teams and Old Thomains Swimming Club (OTSC) ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams.
Men’s ‘A’ group consists of defending champions SLN, OTSC ‘A’ & RCUAC ‘B’ while the ‘B’ group consists of last year’s Runners-up RCUAC ‘A’, OTSC ‘B’, SLAF and SLA. winners of each group will play the runners up of the other group in the Semi Finals and the winners of that match will qualify for Sunday’s final while losers of the Semi Finals will play the Sunday’s Bronze Medal game.
In the Women’s category SLN, SLA and SLAF will play each other and the top two team after the league stage will qualify for Sunday’s final. Looking at Sri Lanka Navy’s Star studded roster it would not be a hard task to win this year’s championship as they have already won the Defense Championship beating the same 2 teams earlier this years.
In the Men’s category Yahan Samarajeewa will lead the defending Champions Sri Lanka Navy team. Navy comprises of a star studded National line up which includes Musharraf Uwais, Wasim M. Bawa, Shan Lakshitha, Kanitha Munasinghe, Avinda Kaldera, Yasiru Ranaraja, Poorna Kankanige and Bhanuka Wijesundara. Sri Lanka Navy has also included Singapore Water Polo Vice Captain in their team card thus becoming the 1st foreign Water Polo player to play in the Sri Lankan National Water Polo Championship.
Navy is expected to face stiff challenge from Current Dr. R. L. Hayman Trophy winners and Princess Chulabharn Waterpolo Cup winning OTSC sides. OTSC ‘A’ team comprises of current STC college team which is led by dependable captain Deelaka Weerarathna and includes National regulars such as Koasala Wijewardena and Keshan Munasingha. Aqueel Souraj, Ashane Fransis, Isuru Kahadawala are some of their play makers. OTSC ‘B’ side is led by Dhanushka Saram and also includes National regulars such as Chanuka Perera and Devushan De Mel.
RCUAC ‘A’ will be led by Royal Captain Akila Weerasinghe and also includes National regulars such as Waleed Uwais and Rifat Uwais. Chandula Fernando and Yasodha Wasalage who put on fantastic performances at the Hayman and Sri Lanka School Championships can be expected to put on similar performances to trouble Navy.
Sri Lanka Air Force will be led by Former National Player SJS Silva and includes some promising players.
Mark your calenders and head on to Sugathadasa to witness some high quality Water Polo this years as Navy will go all out to defend their titles while RCUAC and OTSC teams will definitely look to stop Navy’s unbeaten run.
