Kingswood College, Kandy stickers crowned Champs at the under 20 All Island Schools Games 2023

M.H.Yakeem

Kingswood College, Kandy stickers was crowned as the Champions at the under 20 All Island Schools games Hockey tournament 2023, beating St. Thomas College, Matale by 3 goals to 2 in a thrilling final, organised and conducted by the Ministry of Education, played at St. Peter’s College ground, Colombo-04 on Friday.

Kingswood College, Kandy stickers got qualified to the final beating Dharmadutha College, Badulla by 4 goals to 1 in the quarter final and St. Joseph’s College, Colombo by 3 goals to nil in the semi final, while St.Thomas College, Matale got qualified to the final beating St.Thomas College, Mount Lavinia in a nail biting finish, on penalty strokes ( 8/7 ) in the quarter final and Vijaya College, Matale by 1 goal to nil in the semi final. 

In a thrilling final, Kingswood College, Kandy stickers opened the scoring in a few minutes of the start of play from the stick of M.R.S D. Thushara and Dineth Madushanka scoring the goal for St. Thomas College, Matale, the score stood to read as 1 all at half time. Both team players showcasing their best of talents in the second half, Kingswoodians got their 2nd goal from the stick of H.M.O.V. Dissanayake,  Janadhi Jayatissa scoring the 3rd goal for the Kingswoodians and Thuhara Wijesooriya scoring the 2nd goal for the Matale Thomians, Kingswoodians leading by 3 goals to 2 at this moment,  their defence stood firmly to hold the  MataleThomians forward line till the end of play, which saw them be crowned as the Champions of the under 20 All Island Schools Games 2023. With this Championship,  Kingswood College has pocketed around 4 Championships, under the guidance of their Head Coach,  A.B. Godigamuwa and Assistant Coach,  C.L. Sumanarathna for the year 2023, which is a remarkable performance achieved by these youngsters. 

The tournament was organised and conducted by the Ministry of Education, under the direction of the Director of Sports, Upali Amaratunga. Deputy Director of the Kegalle Zonal, M.D. Wasantha Kumara along with Indrawansa Herath, as the Technical Officer was appointed, to oversee that the tournament to be run smoothly. 

23 Teams from 9 Provinces got qualified to play at this tournament,  out of the 23 teams,  17 teams took part. The teams are Kingswood College Kandy, St John’s College Jaffna,  Sandalalankawa NS, St. Thomas College Matara, Dharmadutha College Badulla,  Richmond College Galle, Parakramabahu NS Polgahawela, St. Joseph’s College Colombo,  Joseph Vaz Wennappuwa, St. Thomas College Mount Lavinia,  Uva College Badulla,  St. Thomas College Matale,  Vaddukodai College Jaffna, Vipulananda Central College Kalmunai, Vijaya College Matale,  Ananda College Colombo,  St. Aloysius College Galle.

Lahiru Weerasooriya,  T.K. Heendeniya, I R.K. Wilwalaarachchi, S. Abeykoon, Abeetha Fernando,  Ishan Kulatunga,  Kusal Thilakasiri,  D.J. Prakash, T.M.S.D. Aberathne, T.M.M D. Abeyrathne, was assigned to officiate at this tournament,  while H.M.C.H. Bandara and A.H.M. Hanafi as Technical Officers. 

Kingswood College stickers comprises, M R.S.D. Thushara, R.O.D. Ranathunga, H.M.C.A. Abeyrathne, K.A.D. Thewanka,  J.A. Wanninayake, H.M.O V. Dissanayake,  I.U. Nemendra, V.K.N. Herath, R.T. Perera,  B.B. Hollowe, S.J. Jayatissa,  K.P.L.Chethana, C L. Hawanpola, D.M.N. Chularathne,  B.M.L. Gunawardena,  A.P.B. Rathnayake, D.M. Karunarathne, R.K.P. Jayathilaka 

Caption 

The Kingswood College Kandy winning team with the Deputy Director of the Kegalle Zonal M D. Wasantha Kumara, Technical Officer, Indrawansa Herath, Head Coach A.B. Godigamuwa and Assistant Coach C.L. Sumanarathna.