S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia have been in the forefront of National water polo for over two decades now and have produced a number of champion teams along the way.
The Thomian under 15 water polo team is definitely one of them! The Thora juniors broke a record for the highest goals scored in a single water polo game in the country, and this was achieved in the final of the water polo National’s tournament which was concluded recently.
The lads from Mount managed to score 21 goals to 3 against Ananda College in the final thus managing to beat the record which was set in 2009 by Royal College who beat S. Thomas’ by 12 goals to 2. The team has a number of young stars in their ranks with the skipper Ashane Francis and deputy skipper Sachitha Jayathileke leading the way. The team has been invincible during the 2012 season and broke another record during their annual encounter with Royal College (1st leg Hayman), recording the highest number of goals during the 1st leg 14-2. The S. Thomas’ College water polo junior with this superlative performance in the first leg of the Hayman continued their performance winning the 2nd leg by 12 goals to 7 thus giving them an overall aggregate of 26 goals as against 9 from Royal which is certainly a remarkable feat. With this comprehensive win they managed to regain the Mahinda Liyanage trophy after a lapse of 3 years last winning in 2009.
After a bright spark at their annual fixture against Royal, the Thomians then went on their aggressive surge during the recently concluded National tournament. They started off by beating Royal College in the semi finals 13 goals to 7 and then went on to win the tournament with a record 21-3 against a helpless Ananda.
This Champion side not only was unbeaten during the season but they also managed to score a whopping 48 goals against rival Royal College, 21 against Ananda College and 34 against Nalanda College which totals up to 103 goals for the season.
This goal scoring machine has been led by skipper Ashane Francis who managed to score 28 goals during the season while his deputy skipper the burly Sachitha Jayathilake has scored 26 goals. The team is coached by two old boys and respected water polo players Zafar Zainudeen and Roshan Ranasinghe.
The team comprises of Ashane Francis (Captain), Sachintha Jayathilake (Vice Captain), senior members Deshitha Hennayake, Javindu Peiris, Duvinda Wijeywardana, Judith Fernando and Malinda Deshapriya and the team was coached by Zafar Zainudeen and Roshaan Ranasinghe.
