The under 17 Inter School All Island Tennis Tournament which was held at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association came to a close on the 27th of June.
The tournament was a mirror image of the under 15 tournament as Ananda College defeated St. Peters College three matches to one in order to win the finals while Royal College and St. Thomas’ College had to settle for third and fourth place respectively.
Finals
The Anandians got off to a perfect start as Kavindu Diluka defeated the Peterite Isuru Wijeratne. The Anandians game proved to be too much to handle for Wijeratne which was evident in the 6-4 6-1 scoreline. The Peterites leveled the tie through the likes of Udayakumar Srinath and and Kavinka Fernando who paired up excellently to defeat the Anandians and win the first doubles 6-4 6-3.
In what followed the Anandians shifted their play into top gear as they cruised to two decisive victories in the second singles and second doubles in order to win the tie. The second singles was played by the talented Archana Lokuge who defeated the Peterite Krishanthan Rajendrasingha. Lokuge’s ground strokes and well placed serves were spot on as the Anandian recorded a 6-2 6-0 victory. The tie was secured when the pairing of Tharindu Dassnayake and Ravindu Weerasinghe won the second doubles in straight sets 6-2 6-2.
Third Fourth Playoff
The Royalists pulled off a nail bitingly close 3-2 victory over the Thomians to claim third place. The Thomians looked in fine shape to win the tie when they raced off to a two match to none advantage courtesy Dulitha Ellawalla who won the first singles and Yasith Ratnayake and Aravinthan Rajendran who won the first doubles.
Tharin Munasinghe initiated the comeback for the Royalists as he won a grueling three set encounter against Vihan Herath 7-6 3-6 6-4. The Royalists leveled the tie at two matches apiece through Manul Wickramasinghe and Mihindu Samarasinghe who defeated the Thomian pairing of Eranga Gunawardena and Thuwaragan Sabasen 3-6 6-2 6-2.
The deciding match was won by the gutsy Royalist Pasindu Sooriyabandara who outsmarted Senal Hemakumara in order to record a well deserved win with a score line of 6-7 6-0 6-3.
Final Results
Champions- Ananda College
Runner up- St Peters College
Third place- Royal College
Fourth place- St Thomas’ College
