Another wonderful weekend for sports in University of Colombo passed by. Here’s a look at what happened on the 4^th weekend of the 13^th Sri Lanka University Games – 2019. This week’s headlines include:

• UOC Rugby into the semifinals
• Athletes of Colombo secure 3^rd Overall
• Colombo Cricketers make short work of Uva

UOC Rugby into the Semifinals

A 41-06 drubbing of University of Sri Jayewardenepura ensures a semifinal berth for the boys from Colombo. Krishmal Fernando’s men dominated the first half scoring 4 tries and converting one of them. This led to a half time lead of 22-00. The second half began exactly like the first with Colombo scoring two more tries. Only one of them was converted. The men from Sri Jayewardenepura made a feeble effort to make a comeback with two penalties on either side of the 7^th UOC try. The full-time score of 41-06 fairly depicted the style of play. The Colombo outfit seems to get stronger every week as Kusal Perera and Devminda Abeynayake were solid in their conversions. Also, the driving maul tries scored in this match show that the men from Colombo can overpower their opposition with strength. University of Colombo meet University of Peradeniya at the semifinals.

Athletes of Colombo secure 3rd Overall

The Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo played host to the Sri Lanka University Games 2019 Athletics tournament. Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka won the overall championship while University of Sri Jayewardenepura secured second place. The athletes from the University of Colombo managed to secure the overall third place in a closely contested affair. They placed within the top 6 of most events, securing victories in the men’s javelin throw, men’s 200m, 800m and 1500m among other events. Rojideen Nifraz stole the show by breaking the games records for the 800m and 1500m men’s events. The women’s team ended up with 28 points, 4^th on the table while the men ended up with 72 points, 2^nd on the table. This ensured that University of Colombo had to settle for third place overall on the Athletics points table.

Colombo Cricketers make short work of Uva

University of Colombo played their first game in the group stages of the SLUG 2019 Cricket tournament against Uva Wellassa University. Having won the toss, captain Sahan Wijesinghe elected to bat first. The opening batsmen laid a solid foundation as UOC notched up 100 runs for no loss by the 22^nd over. Mohomed Saroos top scored with 85 runs, aptly supported by Thaveesha Gunawardene who scored 44 runs. A middle order collapse followed by a late order surge saw the boys from Colombo end up with 217 for the loss of 7 wickets. Uva Wellassa found it difficult to cope with the strong bowling attack of UOC and were eventually bundled out for 127. K.L.U. Perera was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 10-3-26-3. It was a solid performance by the bowling attack which can only bode well for UOC cricket.

What’s Next?

This weeks coverage includes the hockey tournament of SLUG 2019 where we will see a winner by Sunday. Also, University of Colombo take on University of Peradeniya at Koggala in the Rugby Semifinals. Elsewhere, Group stage action continues in the Cricket tournament as University of Colombo hosts the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka on Saturday.

See you next week with the latest updates from SLUG 2019. In the meantime, check out what the two captains of the men’s and women’s hockey teams had to say about their preparation for the tournament.