The Sri Lanka Masters Hockey League will commence on September 23 with eight teams participating at the Astro Hockey Turf, Colombo 7. The tourney brings together for the first time more than 100 ex-national stickers from different districts.
The eight teams will be under two groups. Each team will play three games and the two group champions will play it out in the final while the second placed teams from each group will play in the Plate final, third placed teams for the Bowl and last placed teams to contest for the Shield.
Colombo Wolves, Colombo Dragons, Matale Panthers, Matale Vipers, Kandy Lions, Uva Rhinos, Colombo Tuskers, and Merc Spiders will vie against for a victorious leap.
Sri Lanka is ranked fourth best nation in the South Asian region and ranked below 40 in the Hockey World League rankings. Sri Lanka was once considered a better side in 1970s but failed to perform well at international level for about four decades, though it has shown some improvement since 2015.
“Masters future plan is to conduct this tournament as an annual event and to get foreign teams to tour Sri Lanka to enable hockey lovers witness matches after a long break,” says Ratnasiri Mahagalaella, secretary, Sri Lanka Masters National Hockey Association.
He said the main objective of the association is to encourage, promote, develop and control amateur hockey for men, women and to conduct free of charge training and coaching sessions for school children on request mainly in Sri Lanka’s rural schools and give free hockey equipments.
The number of teams is limited to eight to ensure quality hockey throughout the day.
The Sri Lanka Masters National Hockey Association plans to conduct the tournament annually and distinguish it as a much awaited event of the year in the hockey calendar. The first tournament has been organised in a highly professional manner.
The tournament’s main sponsor is Signature brand of Hameedia, a household name for men’s ready-made garments in Sri Lanka.
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