Nalanda College brought in a rude shock for the Anandians as they went on to win the second water-polo encounter winning the game 13-8 to take home the Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda Challenge Trophy for the first time.
Photo Album – Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda Challenge Trophy | 2015
Ananda College went in to the encounter as favorites having already won the last year’s encounter but the young Nalanda side came out to be the best out of the two teams.
Nalanda’s captain Nimnaka Ratnayaka drew first blood for them off an easy attack through the open side taking advantage of the open goal area. Off to an early start, Dilanka Shehan capitalized on the open attack on the outside wing as he scored Nalanda’s second goal despite the goal line being heavily guarded. Replying to the two points scored by their opponents, it was Ananda’s goal keeper who sent a long pass out wide to his prop Danushka Hansaka who brought in the first points for the defending champions. Few minutes later, Hansaka scored his second to bring Ananda to equal grounds.
Just before the end of the first quarter, it was Nalanda who once again got the scoreboard ticking with a goal and made a glamorous start to the second quarter as skipper Nimnaka Rathnayaka scored an angled goal through the corner to win back the 2 point lead. It was a close encounter as whenever Nalanda scored, Ananda came back with a reply but the turning point of the match came in the middle of the third quarter where fitness came into play and a visibly fatigued Anandians began to struggle.
With a three-point lead in tact (10-7), it was Nalanda’s wing Dilanka Shehan who swam through the corner to drive the final nail in the coffin as he lobbed the ball through the goalkeeper to score. Shehan went on to score another as Nalanda College started to drift away towards victory. After Shehan scored the 11th point, Ananda’s efforts to come back into the game proved out to be futile.
Ananda had a strenuous workload in the final quarter of play with them trailing 12-8 but good goalkeeping from Nalanda’s Lusith Jayaweera prevented them from scoring anything further. Nalanda went up by a point to move on to 13 points and all efforts by Ananda’s wings Asel Karannagoda and Danushka Hansaka proved to be a failure. The Nalanda goalie held his stance and had his support players in the bar positions to prevent any possible onslaught. As referee blew for full time, it was skipper Nimnaka’s Nalanda team who had made history at the Sugathadasa Complex defeating their counterparts 13-8 to win the Wasantha Karannagoda trophy for the first time.
Nalanda’s goalkeeper Lusith Jayaweera was adjudged the Player of the Match for his valiant efforts in goalkeeping. Meanwhile the Nalanda junior team massacred the Anandians 22-2 to win the under 15 game. Ananda had the privilege of only scoring in the first and last quarter of the game.
With this win, both teams draw level in the trophy tally having won one each.
