The University of Colombo (UOC) and the University of Sabaragamuwa (SAB) Netball teams faced off each other today in the Sri Lanka University Games Netball Finals, leading to a victory to UOC at a final score of 41/31.
The bronze medal of the tournament was won by the University of Peradeniya (UOP) by defeating the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP) team at 39/26 in the Consolation final.
The second day of SLUG 2013 Netball at the National Youth Service Council Grounds started with the quarterfinal games between the selected teams. The bad weather conditions which plagued the previous day luckily proved to be absent for much of the day. The four quarterfinals were UOC vs. Wayamba University (WAY),SAB vs. University f Kelaniya (KEL), University of Moratuwa (UOM) vs. UOP and University of Sri Jayawardenapura (USJP) vs. University of Ruhuna (RUH). At the end of these games the scores stood as 42/13 (in favour of UOC), 26/11 (in favour of SAB), 9/27 (in favour of UOP) and 19/16 (in favour of USJP) respectively.
The semifinal round began at midday, with UOC playing USJP and SAB with UOP. The game became more heated with this, as all four teams were making their best play to move a step closer to the gold by reaching the finals. In the end, SAB and UOC were selected as the finalists leaving USJP and UOP to battle for the bronze. The aggressive game style of both these finalist teams certainly helped them to move forward to the next level.
The final and the consolation final took place in the afternoon, starting at around 3.00 p.m. The two finalists played a heated match, with UOC leading from the first quarter. While the SAB girls made a grand effort to defend against the UOC team and win an edge over them, UOC played a forceful game. The score gap widened as each quarter progressed, leading to a gap of 34/23 in UOC’s favor by the end of the third quarter. While SAB tried their best to close the gap and gain back the lost advantage, the game was taken over by UOC, winning the game at 41/31.
In the consolation final for the second runner-up, USJP was leading the score early in the game, but later had their rival team UOP building up on them. While the third quarter began with a relatively small score difference at 19/16 in favor of UOP, the gap started to widen, and the USJP team found themselves quickly losing the control of the game with UOP even taking advantage of every slip-up. Although USJP made a valiant effort to come back even in the last minutes of the game, the skill of UOP players prevailed, resulting in the bronze going to UOP with a score of 39/26.
With this, SLUG 2013 Netball draws to a close. A special point to note is that UOC has also won this championship in 2004, 2007 and 2010 SLUG events, making this the 4th consecutive time they have defended the title. MoraSpirit wishes to extend our heartiest congratulations to all the winning teams.
