Defending champions Nalanda College go out favourites
Defending and 5- times champions Nalanda College will be firm favourites at the forthcoming Inter- School Under-20 Baseball Tournament, to be held from October 10-14, at 3 different venues. The Junior Old Boys Association of Nalanda along with the Sri Lanka Schools Baseball Association is organising the event.
According to the organisers, 15 of the 16 teams that annually participate have already confirmed their participation, while the remaining team's participation is pending confirmation. Among the top contenders of the 5-day competition are hosts Nalanda, Royal, Ananda, DS Senanayake, Trinity, Kingswood, Dharmaraja, St. Anthony's Katugastota, Richmnond and Mahinda Colleges. Among the dark horses are Ranabima Royal, Medirigiriya National School, Mahinda Rajapaksa MV Homagama, Wewala National School and Galewela National School.
The tournament will be conducted under the double elimination method, in which a team losing twice will be out of the competition.
"This is a globally recognised method and has become common for all Baseball tournaments in Sri Lanka, in the past few years. This way the tournament will consist of 31 matches in total, including the grand final," said Dinesh Perera, from the organising committee.
The opening ceremony will take place on Tuesday at 2.30pm at the Diyagama Baseball ground, which will be one of the official venues besides the Moratuwa University ground, Colombo University ground and Shalika ground in Narahenpita. Matches will take place concurrently at Diyagama, Colombo University and Shalika ground from 7 am to 6 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, while on Friday, matches will be played at Diyagama and Shalika. On Saturday, matches are scheduled to take place at Diyagama and Moratuwa University, while the tournament will wind up with the final on Sunday at Diyagama from 1 pm.
The opening ceremony will held under the patronage of the Sri Lanka Schools Baseball Association President B. A. Abeyratne at 2.30pm on Tuesday at Diyagama. Entrance to all venues will be free, including the final at Diyagama on Sunday.