LC –VV gears for another battle in the water

The 9th annual water polo encounter between traditional rivals Ladies College and Visakha Vidyalaya will take place on the 18th (Thursday) at the Police Pool. 

Last year Visakha won the game 5 goals to 2 and the defending champs made their intentions clear during the first match-up against the Ladies during the interschool all Island final beating them 9 goals to 2. Ladies will go in to this encounter as the underdogs yet again and will look to pull out something special under the captaincy of Dharitri Amarasekera. 

The Ladies- Visakha water polo encounter which is played for the M.N Edussuriya Trophy started off in 2004 when LC was captained by Thanuja Fernando and VV by Harshini Warnapura. The inaugural encounter ended in a draw and the first win came from Ladies College under the captaincy of Meneka Mendis the following year. Visakha then struck back the year after in 2006 winning the game under Shahili Gomez. It was 4 wins apiece heading in to last year’s encounter and Visakha ran away clear winners having  scored the bulk of their goals during the first few quarters. 

The tally at the end of 8 encounters is in favour of Visakha having won 4 matches as opposed to 3 from Ladies. 

This year the Visakhians are led by Sri Lanka poolist Limashi Kosgodage and will have the services of Akshana Perera and last year’s deputy skipper Varuni Ekanayake. All three players have been amongst the scoring at this year’s interschool all Island tournament and will pose a threat to their rivals. Varuni Ekanayake in particular has been one of their strongest players and will be a key figure for the defending champs having scored 4 goals during the All-island tournament.

 Ladies on the other hand will be led by experienced Daritri Amarasekera who is also a Sri Lanka poolist. She has been a colossal figure for the Ladies college team in the water and will be looked as the number of option going in to Thursday’s game. 

Visakha Vidyalaya teams

Under 19 – Limashi Kosgodage (Captain), Akshana Perera (Vice Captain), Sachini Seneviratne, Vinuri Wijewickrama, Sachindri Wickramasinghe, Varuni Ekanayake, Tusari Ekanayake, Aneka Abeywickrama, Samaakhya Gajanayake, Shaleena Peiris, Omasha Katuwapitiya, Nipuni Liyanapatabendi, Maneka Dedigama. 

Under 15 – Aneka Abeywickrama, Shaleena Peiris, Tusari Ekanayake, Nuwanthi Mannapperuma, Nadishka Senanayake, Isuri Dodangoda, Upuli Dodangoda, Avishka Dedigama, Thisuri Mendis, Bulani Perera, Chamathi Perera, Shehanthi Gunwardene, Sanuri Trikawalagoda. 

Ladies College teams 

Under 19 – Dharitri Amarasekera (Captain), Haiqa Mohamed (Vice Captain), Teruni Perera, Thilini De Alwis, Athulya Meddegoda, Sabrina Ahmet, Nidheesha Ellawala, Anoushka Tissera, Kaneesha Mendis, Lara Modder, Sashi Weerewarna, Shenara David, Suhashana Wijayaratne

Under 15 – Lara Modder, Shanelle Wickramanayake, Shehara Kannangara, Suhashana Wijayaratne, Misha Conrad, Sashi Weerawarna, Shenara David, Dunyasha Hewagama, Ashmeetha Cooray, Chanika Goonetillake