Royal College is to host S.Thomas’ College, Mt.Lavinia in their den this year as the rivalry intensifies on the courts of the Royal College sports complex on the 21st of October as the two schools face off at the 7th annual Royal-Thomian Badminton encounter.
Although this year is considered as the 7th Royal Thomian Badminton encounter it is the 4th time the two schools play off for the Ranil Wijeysekara memorial trophy. The award presented to the winning team is made in tribute to the memory of past Royal Badminton champion and captain, who later on represented the country. The shuttler’s from Cinnamon Gardens have ben ahead of their rivals from ‘Mount’ in the past years winning the encounter 2 years in succession and leading the tally 4 overall wins to 2 with one tie.
There is a popular saying in the community of Royalists and Thomian’s which says “there is no Royal without S.Thomas’ and there is no S.Thomas’ without Royal”, the two schools which are two of the oldest and premier educational institutions in the island go back 135 year of historic rivalry when a school master of Royal College initiated a cricket match which became the seed for the traditional “Battle of the Blues” and eventually wound its way to a frenzy of the Big Match fever with most schools starting up encounters. Badminton however is a not a sport as popular as cricket but with a bit of traditional spice of rivalry this encounter has proven to be one where the best of the athletes are brought out.
“I’m glad that we commenced this encounter 8 years ago, which undoubtedly will continue as a traditional encounter played between the two schools. While the rivalry is intense the friendship developed over the years will last a life time” said the Royal College captain Malith Kariyawasam.
The Royal team seems very experienced as the captained mentioned “It’s a great privilege to lead a team with such well experienced players like Chamika karunarthne, my deputy Harindu Adikari along with Heshan Nanayakkara, Manura Hapuarachchi, Sachithra Samarasekara and Dinuka Kaluarachchi”. The Royal camp seems very confident that they can make it a three in a row with a win this year too. “Our team has been training very hard and giving it their best, we have performed considerably well so far and I won’t be surprised if our team gives more than what is expected of us on the day” said the confident Royal Skipper Kariyawasam.
On an ending note from the Royal camp the small yet promising Kariyawasam said “Royal College Badminton has turned a new leaf and I vouch to continue the good work done by my predecessors and keep the Blue Gold and Blue flag flying high” with a sense of pride in his voice and passed a message to the Thomian camp saying “let’s play the game in the best spirit in keeping with the traditions both schools have maintained over a century good luck, may the better team win”.
The experiences shared will always be a great inspiration which these young men will all cherish for the rest of their lives, after all this is a Royal Thomian Encounter.
The Royal Team is as follows;
Malith Kariyawasam
Harindu Adikari
Chamika Karunarathne
Heshan Nannayakkara
Sachithra Samarasekara
Manura Hapuarachchi
Dinuka Kaluarachchi
When taking a look at the boys from the school by the sea the run so far has been quite sound with the under-19 team becoming the 2nd Runner Up at the All Island A Division team championship. “We are a very good team and we played with the same Royal College team when we played under-16 and won that encounter and since then we have been practicing very hard and we hope we can do the same in this encounter” said the Thomian captain Deelaka Wijeysooriya.
At a glance the Royal team seems rather more experienced on the contrary to the Thomian team and Wijeysooriya commented on this in the following manner ”Royal College has a team that includes a National player but we have a team consisting of talented individuals who will approach this encounter as a strong unit” stressing on the fact that their strength is team work where they believe ‘they don’t have a team of champions but a champion team’ as quoted from a very popular phrase.
S.Thomas’ lost to Royal at the National school games but as mentioned before this is a Royal Thomian encounter and the best of the athlete is brought out here and one can only expect an intense game.
Wijeysooriya too did not forget to wish his opponents all the very best and said “on court we shall fight but away from it we will cherish and rejoice the memories made ‘together’”.
The S.Thomas’ team is as follows;
Deelaka Wijeysooriya
Johan De Silva
Sandanidu De Silva
Rehan Wijeysekara
Pasindu Wannisinghe
Chamindhika Abesinghe
Vinul Fernando
Be there tomorrow at the Royal College Sports complex to witness the action unravel as tradition and rivalry take center stage.
