Colombo & J’pura take Inter university games Hockey honours

The Sri Lanka University Games (SLUG) hockey tournament was held for third consecutive day today at the Peradeniya grounds. The tournament kicked off on the 15^th of September with the group stage matches played in both the women’s and the men’s categories.

The Men’s category was dominated by the Colombo Hockey team; they beat the year’s third place winners the Moratuwa University on their road to victory. The Women’s category however took a more interesting turn of events from day 01, University of Jayawardenapura eventually emerged champions.

The tournament eventually started with the respective universities being grouped across 4 groups.

Kelaniya, Colombo, Moratuwa, Jayawardenapura topped their groups being undefeated in the group stage while Rajarata, Peradeniya, Sabaragamuwa and Kelaniya qualified through to the quarter finals being the runners up of their respective groups.

In the quarter finals of the Men’s championship Japura Hockey team took on the Peradeniya team which was rather exciting to watch but eventually Peradeniya won by penalties (5-3). Moratuwa however thumped the Kelaniya side to an embarrassing 5-0 defeat in the second quarter final. The third and the fourth places were respectively won by Colombo and Jaffna while PERA and Sabaragamuwa became the 5^th and the 6th respectivelywithout much drama.

Photos : Inter University Hockey

The two semi finals were crafted out between the Colombo and Rajarata teams in one match and Moratuwa and Peradeniya in the second semi. Colombo and Moratuwa progressed to the finals as the losers played the consolation final. The final between Colombo and Moratuwa turned out to be a stunner as no goals were scored during the full time whistle but Colombo won through penalty strokes which gave them the SLUG championship (4-3). Rajarata took the 3rd place defeating Peradeniya 2-0.

Rajarata, Colombo, Jayawardenapura, and Moratuwa topped the women’s groups winning all their games in the group while Kelaniya, PERA, Sabaragamuwa and Rajarata had to settle as the group runners up and qualify through to the quarters with a win. The knockout stage saw Peradeniya taking on the Japura team in the first quarter final which Japura won 1 goal to nil, while in the second quarter final Colombo defeated Rajarata (2-0). The remaining two quarter finals were won by Kelaniya and Jaffna hockey teams defeating Moratuwa and Sabaragamuwa with scores of 5-3 (penalties) and 2-1 respectively.

The semi finals turned out to be rather interesting with arguably the best 4 teams competing although Kelaniya eased past Jaffna with 3 goals to 0. The second semi turned out to be breathtaking as Japura defeated Colombo in penalties (3-2). The all-important final was set up between the Japura and Kelaniya hockey teams in which Japura scraped past the Kelaniya team with a lucky but well deserved goal emerging worthy winners of the SLUG hockey while Colombo defeated Jaffna to clinch the 3rd place.