Sri Lanka Masters men’s over 40 hockey team recorded its second win in the Masters World Cup after defeating Italy 4-3 in the ranking games at the veterans tournament held in Nottingham, England.
After being routed in all six round robin matches against top European teams in pool A, the Sri Lankans bounced back to notch a consolation win against Italy in the 14-nation tournament.
Italy also lost all six group matches in pool B.
The match was crucial for both teams to avoid being ranked last in the 2022 Masters World Cup.
After an evenly poised game, Sri Lanka took the lead in the 11th minute when Sampath Subasinghe scored the first goal following a rebound from a penalty corner hit by vice-captain and Sri Lanka’s centre forward Nadith Kudagama.
Duncan Devendra scored the second goal via a penalty stroke in the 17th minute to double their lead 2-0.
However, Italy fought back with a field goal but Sri Lanka’s defender Sanjay Edgar scored the third goal to give them a 3-1 cushion at half time.
Italy which beat Sri Lanka in the 2018 Masters World Cup 2-1 fought back hard relentlessly and were rewarded with a 51st minute field goal by Malluzzo Michele.
However, Nadith Kudagama, Mahesh Matiwala and Duncan Devendra combined brilliantly to breach the Italian defence in the 60th minute. Devendra netted the ball for his fourth goal in the 2022 World Cup.
Italy skipper Alessandro Onano scored their third goal in the 67th minute of the game to reduce the gap 4-3. However, Sri Lanka’s defence hung on grimly in the last three minutes to clinch 13th position. Sri Lanka was ranked 14th in the last World Cup held in Barcelona, Spain.
It was Sri Lanka’s second win in Masters World Cup history having recorded their first win against Denmark 2-1 in Spain on their debut.