RCHC emerge joint champions in CHA 9-a-side hockey tournament
Royal College Hockey Club (RCHC) emerged ‘B’ Division champions in the 9-a-side Hockey Tournament 2018 organised by Colombo Hockey Association (CHA). The tournament was worked out at CH&FC ground recently. RCHC, sponsored by IT giant KBSL and coached by former national coach Rohan Dissanayake, started the tournament with a 0-1 defeat against CH&FC ‘B’ team, but recovered with a lucky victory against Old D.S. Senanayake College team via a toss after two-time single series penalty strokes following three-penalty series ended in a draw. Later they won against Old Joseph by 2-0 with Falul Hallaj and Pasindu Charaka scoring a goal each before beating the defending champions Old Bens by 2-0 with Tanweer Hallaj sounding the board twice.
In the semi-final, RCHC outclassed the Malays team, which played with some top class hockey players contracted from Matale, by 3-0. Falul Hallaj, Tanweer Hallaj, and Pasindu Charaka scored a goal each for the team comprising only players produced by Royal College. In the final, they met Old Anandians, who won the semi-final against CH&FC ‘B’ by 3-1 in penalty stroke following a 0-0 draw. When the first half of the final dominated by RCHC ended with a 0-0, the organiser was forced to declare the both finalists as joint champions after the finalist Old Anandians complained of bad weather. The team was led by Lasitha Manchanayake (John Keells Holdings) with Shahid Kuthubdeen (MAS Holdings), a junior national player as his deputy. RCHC became runners up in the CHA knock out tournament earlier this year.
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