North Western Province collected all honours, becoming champions in both the men’s and women’s categories at the Beach Volleyball Tournament of the National Sports Festival 2016 held at Negombo Beach Park.
The event was held over 2 days, starting on 3rd of September and saw the participation of players from all 9 provinces.
The men’s final took place between W.A.S.D. Fernando & Y.H.S. Malintha Yapa of the North Western Province and W.L. Sanjeewa Chinthaka & T.P.K. Ekanayake of the Western Province.
Fernando & Yapa came into the final undefeated overcoming the Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western Province players respectively.
The Western duo gained entrance to the final when they defeated the Southern duo W.G. Mahesh & A. Geethanjana at the semi-final of the Loser’s Bracket.
The final proved to be a very close encounter where the teams matched each other point for point. Chinthaka & Ekanayake broke away from the deadlock at 10-10 to take the lead and win the set.
The North Western players did not seem to have given up and came on strongly in the 2nd set with hard spike shots and finger-end volleys and subsequently went on to win the set with a score of 21-19.
The 3rd set began with North West attaining an early lead but were closely but the Western duo evened the score at 10-10. Fernando & Yapa’s persistence finally gave way when they went on to win the set and bag the gold.
| Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | |
| WP | 21 | 19 | 11 |
| NWP | 15 | 21 | 15 |
The losers of the Loser’s Bracket semi-final Southern Province were awarded the bronze.
Player of the Tournament (Men’s): W.A.S.D.Fernando (North Western Province)
Dinesha Prasadini & Nirosha Gunasinghe of the North Western Province came into the finals as clear favourites having defeated Uva, Southern and Eastern Province players on the way.
The Eastern ladies Hasuni Tharaka & Wasana Madumali came into the final defeating Southern Provinces B.G.Sagari Gunasinghe & Y.G.N.Sanjeewani at the Loser’s Bracket semi-final.
The game proved to be a walk-in-the-park for the girls from the North West where they comprehensively won both sets at 21-15 and 21-11 to take away the gold.
| Set 1 | Set 2 | |
| EP | 15 | 11 |
| NWP | 21 | 21 |
The bronze medal went over to the girls from the South.
Player of the Tournament (Women’s): Dinesha Prasadini (North Western Province)
