The annual Royal Thomian Tennis Encounter which was played yesterday at the STC courts witnessed yet another wonderful performance by the Thomians as their senior team rallied round their inspirational captain Avishka Perera in order to win an epic tie.
The three match to two win by the Thomians resulted in them securing the coveted E.F.C. Pereira Memorial Trophy for the third consecutive time.
1st singles- Eroo Samarasinghe(RC) beat Jerique Rajapakse(STC) 9-8(4)
The pairing met last in last years encounter as well where the Royalist secured a comfortable 9-5 win. This years match up proved to be much more intense as the young Thomian raced to a 7-3 lead. However Samarasinghe staged a remarkable come back in order to level the scores at 7 games a piece. Both players lost their serve in the two games that followed taking the match into a tie break which Samarasinghe won completing what was a crucial win for the Royalists.
1st Doubles- Venuka Hulangamuwa and Viranka Fernando (STC) beat Udishtran Raviraj and Vikum Jayasuriya (RC) 9-6
The Thomian pairing featuring their star doubles player Hulangamuwa leveled the tie almost immediately after they recorded a good win almost moments after Samarasinghe had won his singles for Royal College. Hulangamuwa controlled the tempo of the entire game using his attacking strokes and crisp volleys in order to have the Royalists on the back foot for the entirety of the game. He was offered able support by his partner Fernando who used his groundstrokes to set Hulangamuwa up for numerous finishing plays which were executed beautifully by the talented combination.
2nd Singles- Sharmal Dissanayake (RC) beat Anarga Peiris (STC) 9-0
The Lankan Davis Cup player Dissanayake made short work of his Thomian counterpart in order to put the Royalists back in front as far as the tie was concerned. His powerful flat first serves and effortless groundstrokes proved to be too much for the Thomian who to his credit gave every point his all despite being far weaker than his opponent.
2nd doubles- Yasith Rathnayake and Amandha Gunawardena (STC) beat Balachandran Suren and Subash Kuganeshan (RC) 9-8(12-10)
The Thomians came into the match knowing that they had to win in order to keep their hopes of retaining the title alive and to the dismay of the home crowd they found themselves trailing 4-1. The Royal pairing were playing positive tennis and looked in fine form to the win the match and the tie. However it was then that the well known ‘Thomian Grit’ once again came to the forefront as the Thomians spurred on by their supporters fought their way back into the game. In what was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating matches ever played at a Royal Thomian all four players matched each other serve for serve and shot for shot as the match progressed to a tie break. If the entire match was close the tie break was closer as the Thomians saved three match points to win an absolutely remarkable match that sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
3rd singles- Avishka Perera (STC) beat Danushka Abeywardena (RC) 9-1
For the third consecutive year the Royal Thomian was to be decided via the final rubber. This years deciding match was set to be played between the captains of the two schools and everyone’s expectations were at a peak as far as the potential quality that the match could entail. However the only quality present in the entire match came off the racket of the Thomian captain Avishka Perera who quite ironically thrashed his opponent ‘right royally’. The wins in the first and second doubles along with Avishkas decisive win in the third singles completed a fantastic win for the Thomians making it three out of three under 19 wins in the last three years. Earlier on in the day Royal College recorded wins in both the under 13 and under 15 age categories. The prize giving was held after the conclusion of the under 19 event and was graced by the principal of Royal College, the warden of S. Thomas’ College and the chief guest for the day Mr. Brian Perera who was a past tennis captain of Royal College.
