The 9th annual Royal Thomian Tennis Encounter is scheduled to take place on the 21st of February at the STC Tennis Courts.
The encounter features the likes of talented players from the two schools who will battle it out in three age categories namely under 13, under 15 and under 19. The under 19 event which is contested for the coveted E.F.C. Pereira Memorial Trophy has gone the way of the boys from Reid Avenue five times in the past where as the Thomian Grit has come to the fore front over the last two years.
The under 19 event which is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the three events is guaranteed to produce tennis of the highest quality as both schools are set to field top quality players in their respective teams.
The Royalists will be led by their captain Dhanushka Abeywardena who is a Davis Cup poolist and a top ranked player as far as the men’s open rankings of the country are concerned. However the lynch pin of the Royal line up will undoubtedly be the talented Sharmal Dissanayake who is a member of the current Davis Cup team. His powerful groundstrokes and overpowering gameplay will most definitely be something to look out for as far as Saturdays encounter is concerned.
The Thomian team will be powered forward by their dynamic captain Avishka Perera who is a third generation Thomian Tennis captain. He too has represented Sri Lanka at the junior levels and has a high rank in the men’s rankings of the island. The team is offered more stability and strength via the consistency of Jerique Rajapakse and Avindra Perera who have both represented the country at the Junior Davis Cup.
The Royalists are coached by the experienced Sylvester Francis whereas the Thomians are coached by Anjuna Anthony who has done a wonderful job in devising a winning formula for his team over the past two years.
It will be everything to play for as far as both schools are concerned and all that remains to be seen is if the Royalists can break the hoodoo or if the Thomian Grit will prevail once again making it three times in a row for the boys representing the blue black and blue.
