For the 44th annual Mercantile Hockey Association seven-a-side tournament will take place on Sunday the 4th December at the P Sara Stadium ‘Oval’ in Colombo.
The matches will commence at 8.00 am with the semi-finals set to be held from 3.30 pm onwards. The final will be at 4.30pm.
Nippon Paints have come forward as the Main sponsor for this year’s tournament while Browns PLC, Hilton, and Baraka Joint Ease Spray will be the co- sponsors.
The tournament will see 22 teams compete under six divisions.
The teams which will vie for honours are:
A div – Dennis De Roayro Janashakthi Trophy
Commercial Bank A; Hatton National Bank A; MAS Holdings; Sampath Bank
B div – Singer Trophy
Allianz INC; Commercial Bank B; Hayleys Group; HSBC
C div – Lifebouy Trophy
Browns A; John Keells Group; Singer SL;
D div – Edmond J Cooray Trophy
Nations Trust Bank; Seylan Bank,
E Div – Ceylon Cols Stores Trophy
Ceylon Tobacco Company; DPMC; Orient Finance;
F div – MHA PRESIDENTS TROPHY
Browns B; Hayleys Group B; John Keells Group B; MAS Group B; Sampath Bank
A higher membership participation is observed this year with some corporates fielding two teams. There will be six trophies on offer with the runners-up trophies (first time) presented with medals and replicas.
The MHA has been consistently holding its tournaments for over six decades, except the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The MHA now conducts four tournaments during the year – League, Knock-out; Nine-a-side and the Seven-a-side.
Mercantile Hockey was first inaugurated in 1952 as a hockey section of the Mercantile Amateur Athletic Association and was officially inaugurated as a body on the 31st March 1957 as the Mercantile Hockey Association. Since then, the association has been driving camaraderie among the Mercantile sector and providing a platform for hockey playing students to start of their career and contributing much towards the sport in the country. The MHA emerged joint Champions in the first hockey nationals in the country in the year 1957 and since then has won the championship on 16 Occasions, 1st Runner -up on 13 occasions and 3rd Place 14 times. At the 2022 Hockey Nationals conducted by the SLHF, the team reached the final and ended up becoming runners up. Many of its players have represented the country from the very inception.
This year the MHA celebrates 70 years of hockey in the Mercantile sector.