The most-awaited school water polo rivalry comes to life tomorrow for the 32nd time as Royal College and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, jump into the Sugathadasa waters. The 32nd Dr. R. L. Hayman Trophy water polo encounter is comprised of 2 legs, and the winner will be decided upon the aggregate score. The 1st leg encounter will be held tomorrow, 27th September, while the 2nd leg of the encounter will be on the following Saturday, 4th of October 2025.
The Hayman Encounter debuted in 1992 as a tribute to Dr. R. L. Hayman, a former sub-warden at S. Thomas’ College and the man who donated the college’s swimming pool. Ever since the water polo teams of the two schools have been fighting for the glory of their alma mater for a history spanning three decades.
The trophy currently resides at Reid Avenue, and the Royalists will be eyeing a consecutive win with the confidence of winning the National Age Group water polo tournament held last month.
Anuga Handunpathirana is leading the Royal Under 19 team, and his team includes Talal Bary, Madithya Liyanage, Yathish Perera, Ramiru Aluthge, Imaad Ismath, Dinal Wellappili, Lithum Karunasena, Rahul De Silva, Tehan Gunatilaka, Indeev De Silva, Vinuda Somakeerthi, and Bihandu Katugampala.
The Thomian under-19 team, led by Athesha Sentitcumaran, includes Ezra Ganesh, Biren Hewamanna, Akaash De Simon, Dinuk Wickramasinghe, Lithum Kannangara, Shahen Meegama, Michael Gunawandana, Tristan Fernando, Kavin Nanayakkara, Dhruv Perera, Jayden Vaseeharan, Affan Siddee, Riveen Perera, Amitesha Sentitcumaran, Arith Salgado, and Shehran Nawaz.
The under-19 encounter will commence at 5.30 pm, following the under-13 and under-15 matches starting at 2.00 pm and 3.30 pm respectively.
Catch the LIVE action on ThePapare 1 HD channel available on Dialog TV Ch. no 126, Dialog ViU+ app, and thepapare.com website from 1.45 pm onwards.
