Sri Lankan stickers for Masters World Cup
Sri-Lankan men’s over 35 and 40 teams left the country on August 9 to take part in the second Masters World Cup Hockey tournament scheduled to be held from August 12 to 21 in Nottingham, England. Sri Lanka national Hockey team is currently ranked 34th in the World, 8th in Asia and 4th in South Asia.
Sri Lanka Hockey team has never played in a World Cup as other countries in Asia including India, Pakistan and Japan, who have been at the top of the game. The Sri Lanka Masters Hockey team initiated the move to participate in the Masters World Cup in 2018 in Barcelona Spain to give more exposure to the Veterans for the betterment of the game.
In over 35 age category, Sri Lanka will play in group “ A “ which comprises of England, Spain, Ghana and South Africa, while the Island nation over 40 team will play against the mighty Germany, South Africa, England, France, Wales and Ireland.
This will be Sri Lanka Masters second World Cup tournament in history and in the first World Cup held in Barcelona Spain in 2018 , Sri- Lankan Masters won against Denmark by 2-1 in a ranking competition , where we were placed 40th in the World .
This year, the over 35 age group will play its first match against Spain, while the over 40 will play against Germany on the 12th. The over 35 team will be led by P. Heenatigala, a former national player, who has represented Police and Army and the over 40 team will be led by Devan Chaminda Perera a double international ( Hockey and Soccer ). Duncan Devendra will accompany the team as the Manager and Ashok Peiris as Coach.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau is the main sponsor of the World Cup participating teams, while national carrier SriLankan Airlines has come forward as the official airline partner and Nippon Paint Lanka ( Pvt ) Ltd., as the co- sponsor for the team. Also Sri Lanka Masters Hockey teams are thankful to the President,. Fouzul Hameed, Senior Vice President . Otto Preena, Secretary Duncan Devendra , Dhammika Wijesundera, Ananda De Silva and Ashok Peiris for playing a major role to make this tour a success.
The over 35 team
Prasanna Heenatigala (Captain), Sathiya Rasiah, Dananjaya Peiris, Upul Fernando ( Vice- Captain), Pasan Mallawaarachchi, Thushara Manoj, Roshan Thotagamuwa, Priyadarshan Kiridaran, Nicholas Anthony, Sherwin Morrel, Kaveendra Nanayakkara, Suranjith Devamullage, Dinesh Jayakody, Joy Rasanayagam and Hasantha Jasinarachchi.
The over 40 team
D.C. Perera ( Captain), Kasun Herath, Linus Jayasekeran, Diluka Weerasooriya, Yohan Lewke, Sanjay Edgar, Shihar Aneez, Sampath Subasinghe, Lushantha Perera, Marlon Jacobs, Mahesh Matiwala, Duncan Devendra, Nadith Kudagama ( Vice- Captain), Ashok Peiris, Anuradha Fernando and Deepike Kariyawasam.