The annual All Island Seven-a-side Schools Hockey Tournament, which is one of the most anticipated sporting events in the St. Thomas Matale hockey calendar, will be held on June 24th at the Edward Park hockey grounds.
The Chief Guests at the opening ceremony would be Honourable State Minister of Agriculture Wasantha Aluwihare, Matale District MP Ranjith Aluwihare, Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Association President Mr Dampriya Wanasinghe and former President Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Federation Mr Rohana Dissanayake.
This annual Hockey tournament is organised by the Matale Old Thomians Hockey Association, under the guidance of Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Association and will be sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka Limited. Singer Sri Lanka, which is a company well known for its generous contributions towards sports, has now extended its support towards schools hockey. This is much appreciated by the hockey fans all over Sri Lanka.
St. Thomas Matale has not only produced champion teams, they also have produced so many top class international and national hockey players who have made the school proud. At the same time, the Matale Thomians have been victorious in almost all school’s tournaments at district and at national level.
With the approval of the Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Association and the Ministry of Education, the organising committee has decided to invite all leading boys hockey playing schools in the island for this tournament.
The boy’s hockey teams that will be participating in this event are, Vijaya College, Zahira College, Christ Church, Sirimavo Bandaranayake, Royal College Colombo, S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia, Ananda College, Nalanda College, Wesley College, D.S. Senanayake Vidyalaya, Trinity College Kandy, Dharmaraja College, Kingswood College, St. Sylvester’s College, Vidyartha College, Badulla Dharmadutha Vidyalaya, Maris Stella College Negombo, Gampaha Bandaranayake M.V, Jaffna Central College, St. Johns College, St. Thomas College Matara, St. Joseph Vas Wennappuwa, St. Aloysius Galle, Mahinda College, Royal College Panadura and hosts St. Thomas College Matale.
In 2016, Wennappuwa Joseph Vas and Matale Christ Church were awarded the joint championship in this tournament. This year cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to the winning teams and all facilities will be provided throughout the tournament by the organising committee.
