St. Peter’s College, Colombo 04, Under-15 tennis team defied all the odds and predictions when they won the coveted All Island Under-15 tennis title at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts at Greenpath, Colombo on Monday, May 11.
At the start of the tournament the Peterites were not even mentioned in the favourites category with last year’s winners and strong favourites, Ananda College, the 2014 Under-13 champions, Royal College and also the strong and well-balanced S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia being considered the early front-runners.
Peterits fielded an inexperienced team with only Thevinda Piyadigama and Nenuka Jayatileka in the side playing regular tennis. The rest of the team was inexperienced at tournament level. Kevin Assauw came back to tennis after four years while the cricketer twins, Raveen and Naveen Abeygooneratne, were expected to provide support with Shehan Perera, who too was expected to provide assistance.
In contrast, defending champions Ananda and Royal fielded a line-up of players all of whom were regular participants in the local tennis circuit.
In the group stages, Royal, S. Thomas’, the fast improving St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s as well as St. Benedict’s College were drawn in Group ‘B’, a ‘group of death.’
Ananda, Lyceum International School – Nugegoda, De Mazenod College – Kandana, D. S. Senanayake College and Thurstan College were in Group ‘A’.
Having beaten St. Benedict’s comfortably on the first day of the tournament, the Peterites suffered a massive setback when they lost to Royal 15-20 in a crucial match that was a key to decide the Group leaders.
Peterites took on St. Joseph’s while the Royalists met the Thomians on day two. With their No. 1 player Thevinda Piyadigama fighting back from 0-4 down against St. Joseph’s star player, Manal Algama, to eventually win his match, St. Peter’s could manage to beat the Josephians.
Royal beat S. Thomas’ in a pulsating battle, to a score of 18-17.
In the next round, Royal were expected to take full points from the Benedictines while Peterites and the Thomians were in a battle to make it through to the next round.
With the Thomians needing a minimum of 23 points and the Peterites desperate to get 24 points, it was a fitting finale to the Group stages.
In this crucial clash with most matches being keenly contested, the Peterites sounded the first note of warning to their rivals when they beat the strong Thomians 35-0 to top the Group.
With Ananda winning their matches easily in the other Group and Lyceum, Nugegoda beating all the other schools except Ananda, Group ‘A’ was settled long before the drama finished in Group ‘B’.
With Ananda beating Royal 3-2 in a keenly contested semi-final, the Peterites won their semi-final against Lyceum, Nugegoda to set up a final with Ananda.
In the final played on Monday, Thevinda Piyadigama got the Peterites off to a perfect start by winning his match 6-1, 6-1.
Then in the next match, the Anandian pair of Ravindu Palliyaguru and Vinuja Wijebandara won a good match 6-2, 6-1 to make the final 1-1.
Then the Anandians pulled off a crucial win in the next Singles when Praneel Jasinghe won his match 6-1, 6-4 to give them a crucial 2-1 lead.
In the 4th match, the Peterite Doubles pair of Kevin Assauw and Raveen Abeygooneratne got off to a great start by winning the 1st set 6-1. The Anandians came back and levelled the match by winning the next set 6-2. With the Anandians taking a 3-1 lead in the final set it looked curtains for the Peterite pair.
But they pulled it back through some gutty tennis and eventually won it 6/4 in the third set to set up a grand finale.
With Shehan Perera playing for the Peterites and the experienced Dushan Wijetunge representing Ananda, this was still anyone’s match.
Roared on by both sides, in an extremely noisy decider at the SLTA, every point was greeted with great cheers.
Shehan Perera got off to the good start winning the first set 6-3. Dushan came back playing good tennis to lead the 2nd set 3-2. But Shehan had other ideas clawing his way back to the lead again and eventually winning the set, and with it the Championship, 6-4.
The victorious Peterite team comprised of Thevinda Piyadigama, Nenuka Jayatileka, Kevin Assauw, Naveen Abeygooneratne, Raveen Abeygooneratne, Shehan Perera, Heshan Pillai, Luqman Mowjood and Yasas Wijeratne.
St. Peter’s ‘system of tennis’ has been producing players of substance and caliber, with good discipline too, under Rector, Rev. Fr. Trevor Martin and the Sports Coordinator Rev. Fr. Sharm Dassanayake. They take a lot of credit for the success of tennis at St. Peter’s.
“The boys worked extremely hard the last two months. Their dedication and the commitment have been rewarded. The hard work that they put in has borne fruit,” said Rev. Fr. Dassanayake.
With the long-standing Master-in-charge Bernard Jesuthasan at the helm giving guidance, the Peterites have been coached by Dinith Pathiraja who is completing his 18th year in his long tenure at St. Peter’s this year.
