SLAF Enter Finals of 48th Senior Basketball Nationals
4:21pm on Tuesday 18th January 2011
Sri Lanka Air Force Cagers sailed through to the finals of the 48th Senior National Basketball Championships, 2011 after 23 Years by beating SL Schools Team 69 points to 61.
The finals will see the dribblers from SLAF pitted against the Mercantile Team on 21st of January at the Kingswood College Basketball Courts in Kandy.
Competitors from 10 men’s teams participated in this year’s tournament. The performance of the SLAF team in the championship has been exceptional with them winning all four matches in Round 1 against teams from Puttlam, Colombo, SL Army and Hambantota.
At the Semi Finals which were worked off against SL Schools on 16th January at St. Joseph’s College - Nugegoda courts the SLAF players played a decisive game. The nail-biting encounter saw SL Schools lead at half time with 32 points to 30. But a superb comeback by SLAF’s Osanda Umayanga, who scored 18 points, the Cagers clinched a place in the Finals.
This is the Second Occasion that the AF team has qualified in to the Final in the history of 60 years. Incidentally two players from the SLAF BB Team of 1987 which emerged champions are handling the present team. Group Captain Harendra Perusingha is the Chairmen of Air Force Basket Ball while Air Commodore Harsha Fernando is the team coach.
The finals will see the dribblers from SLAF pitted against the Mercantile Team on 21st of January at the Kingswood College Basketball Courts in Kandy.
Competitors from 10 men’s teams participated in this year’s tournament. The performance of the SLAF team in the championship has been exceptional with them winning all four matches in Round 1 against teams from Puttlam, Colombo, SL Army and Hambantota.
At the Semi Finals which were worked off against SL Schools on 16th January at St. Joseph’s College - Nugegoda courts the SLAF players played a decisive game. The nail-biting encounter saw SL Schools lead at half time with 32 points to 30. But a superb comeback by SLAF’s Osanda Umayanga, who scored 18 points, the Cagers clinched a place in the Finals.
This is the Second Occasion that the AF team has qualified in to the Final in the history of 60 years. Incidentally two players from the SLAF BB Team of 1987 which emerged champions are handling the present team. Group Captain Harendra Perusingha is the Chairmen of Air Force Basket Ball while Air Commodore Harsha Fernando is the team coach.
