Sixty six teams from boys and girls schools nationwide will compete in the 18th Blue and Gold Hockey 7s tournament, organized by the Royal College Hockey Club (RCHC) at the Royal College main ground on August 12 and 13, starting from 8 am.
This year, the RCHC has secured accommodation, meals, and beverages for all outstation school teams, courtesy of sponsors led by Singer Sri Lanka. Innovative digital technology has been introduced for team registration, making it one of the key events in the school hockey calendar.
The tournament, which began in 1992 with 16 boys’ school teams, was revived in 2002 by the Royal College Hockey Club. In the last edition held in 2019, Dharmaraja College Kandy emerged victorious in the Boys category, while Seethadevi Balika Balika Maha Vidyalaya Kandy won the Girls category.
Strong contenders in the boys’ category include Aloysious College Galle, Kingswood College Kandy, Zahira College Matale, S Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia and Matale, Ananda College Colombo, and the hosts Royal College. In the girls’ category, Seethadevi Kandy and Janadhipathi Balika Vidyalaya Kotte are expected to perform well.
Royal College Colombo leads the boys’ category with three championships, followed by Nalanda College, Vijaya College Matale, and Joseph Vaz College Wennapuwa with two titles each.
Seethadevi College tops the girls’ category with eight championships, followed by Pushapadana College Kandy with four titles.
Sajeewa Jayakody