The most looked forward event in the Mercantile Hockey calendar, the 41st annual men’s seven-a-side tournament concluded successfully today at the P. Sarvanamuthu grounds.
The final match of the ‘A’ division did not take place due to the weather and Commercial Bank and Hatton National teams were declared joint champions and were awarded the Dennis De Rosayro Trophy donated by Janashakthi Insurance PLC.
Though the ‘A’ and ‘D’ division’s final matches were not worked off due to weather, all the winners were awarded challenge trophies and cash awards. Further, in each division the most outstanding players were selected and were given awards with cash prizes.
In the ‘B’ Division MAS Holdings grabbed the Singer trophy by winning the match against Seylan Bank PLC. The winning goal for MAS Holdings was scored by Krishan Kuamrasinge through a penalty shoot-out and he was awarded the most outstanding player in the ‘B’ division.
Hayleys PLC beat HSBC team by 1-0 in the ‘C’ division final. Malith Rasanga of Hayleys scored the winning goal for his team and he was selected as the most outstanding player in the ‘C’ division.
In the ‘D’ division Softlogic PLC and John Keells Holdings were declared joint champions since the final match did not take place since the rain interrupted the final session.
M.J.F. Group took home the ‘E’ division Ceylon Cold Stores trophy by beating Smithkline Beecham (Pvt) Ltd. The winning goal was scored by Thivanka Wijerathne for M.J.F group and he was presented the most outstanding player in this division.
This prestigious event was jointly sponsored by Peoples Leasing and Finance PLC, Sampath Bank and Hilton Colombo. This tournament is conducted annually to spread the sport island wide and to strengthen the corporate relationships. Altogether, 21 teams were present at this event and the teams participated were categorized into 5 separate divisions and competed with each other for five different championships. The divisions were, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’.
The chief guest of the event was Mr Laksanda Gunawardana DGM Marketing – People’s Leasing and Finance PLC. The guest of honor of the event was Mr Paduma Subasinghe Senior Vice President Group Human Resources.
