Over 250 players from 26 teams are expected to deliver some exceptional talent at the 46th Mercantile hockey Sevens on December 15 at the P. Sara Oval.
The tournament will be conducted by the Mercantile Hockey Association (MHA) in five divisions with the kick-off scheduled for 7.30 am and the final matches in each division to begin at 3 pm.
Manjula Weerakoon (right) director of Commercial, Haleon Lanka Pvt. Ltd presenting the sponsorship cheque to V. Balagobi, president of the MHA (Pic by Wimal Karunathilaka)
The tournament will be conducted in the A, B, C, D and MHA President’s Trophy divisions. Among the players will be juniors and seniors from Sri Lanka’s national hockey teams competing for their respective organizations.
The main sponsor is Iodex Spray represented by Haleon Lanka Private Limited while Brown and Company’s newly launched dog food brand, Bawwa Bites is the co-sponsor.
There will be 19 Companies fielding 26 teams and a total of 42 matches will be played during the day. The first round will be played to a six minutes each half with a two minute break at half time. The finals will be played to seven minutes each half with a two minute break at half time. The A division final will be played to a ten minutes each half with a two minutes break for half time.
Awards will be presented to the winning team in each division while the best player in each division will also be rewarded. There will be a trophy given for fair play. The A division title was won by HNB last year while the B division was won by Browns Group. These details were disclosed by V. Balagobi the president of MHA in a media briefing held at the BRC pavilion on Thursday (5).
Manjula Weerakoon the director of Commercial Haleon Lanka will be the chief guest at the event.
For the record MHA organizes four hockey tournaments each year along with a 9-a-side hockey event every September.
