Beach Boys Football Club of Hambantota deservedly emerged champions in the football tournament after beating Jolly Boys of Kirinda 2-1 in last Sunday’s final at the Hambantota Beach Games which marked the re-emergence of organised sports in the country after a break of more than five months.
The event was well-attended by an enthusiastic crowd that stayed on until the finish of the Games that had football, volleyball and surfing events amid a festival atmosphere that prevailed throughout with music.
“We are planning to combine tourism and sports and build up a sports tourism based economy and the success of the Beach Games can be considered as the first step. What we are actually looking at is to organize a couple of beach games around the coastal belt because we believe beach sport is actually an area where we can win medals in the international arena,” said new Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
“Especially in beach volleyball we have won medals. We have only one facility in the country which won’t help. We are looking to build more facilities.”
To make it spicier the football tournament was not without incidents of controversies. One incident arose when a goal was not awarded in favour of the attacking team. The ball had edged the right post and after being entangled to the net deflected to bounce out of the line.
There was a protest after the match with the team that scored the goal showed a video recording.
In another incident, the team that lost, Carlton SC of Tangalle protested that their opponents had fielded a player from another district.
After much deliberation it was discovered that this player was a registered voter in the Hambantota district.
There were also a few incidents of field invasions by supporters that delayed proceedings by long breaks that only delayed the finish at the Games.
Thankfully, the floodlights kept the proceedings alive until the wee hours.
Football that attracted the crowd most, was played on a condensed field and saw four women’s teams and 32 men’s teams of five players each participate.
The winning Beach Boys FC team consisted of Isuru Siriwardane (Captain), MSF Mohamed (GK), Shahib Yusuf, Riyal Razik and Himas Hameed.
Beach Boys scored first through a goal by Shahib Yusuf while Jolly Boys equalized through a penalty for a handball. The scores were 1-1 at half time.
Beach Boys went ahead early in the second half when they were awarded a penalty and Shahib kicked right.
Jolly Boys had an opportunity to equalize but the penalty kick missed the target.
In the semi-finals Beach Boys beat Marians SC on the penalty shoot-out while Jolly Boys FC of Kirinda beat Samodya FC in the other semi-final.
Vijeba SC of Hungama won the Volleyball event for men beating Carlton SC by two sets to one in the final that was also played well past 12 midnight.
Vijeba SC was represented by Mahesh Wannigama of the Army and Geethanjana Amarawickrema who are national players and have done well in international tournaments. Even the players who represented Carlton SC, Nishan Ravindu and Rangana Sampath have also represented the national team.
In the semi-finals Vijeba SC beat Aruna SC of Ranala and Carlton SC beat Pubudu Vijeba SC.
Vijeba SC of Hungama beat Carlton SC by two sets to nil to take the women’s volleyball event.
Sanduni Maduwanthi and Jayani Lakshan composed the champion Vijeba National School team from Hungama. Surfing was conducted as a fun event and four top surfers were seen treading the waves which were not frequent.
Sadun Ashan, Uditha Rangana, Nawod Sandakelum and Charith Madushan entertained the small crowd who stood by the shoes.
New Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapaksa also took part in surfing with his coach Stephan Taylor of Australia. Taylor’s mother is of Sri Lankan origin who migrated to Australia at the age of five years.
The overall winners of the Hambantota District Beach Games was presented the Namal Rajapaksa Trophy and was well arranged and organized by Nalin Hemakumara, KA Chandana, Janaka Sri Warnasiri from Tangalle and the Hambantota Football League along with Palangasinghe.