Defending champions St. Peter’s College were given a rude shock by the boys from S. Thomas’ who clinched victory in the Under 19 Schools Nationals Tennis championship final that was worked off at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts.
The lads from Bambalapitiya who had already won the national age group title a few months ago, were looking to complete a double but the resilient Thomians avenged their defeat in the semifinals at the age group nationals. The Thomians were a stronger, experienced outfit in comparison to the earlier tournaments but the St. Peter’s was definitely the team favoured to win.
S. Thomas’ chose the newly crowned national champion, Avindra Perera for the opening act in the first singles game. Avindra met Chehan Fernando of St. Peter’s reviving the good old rivalry between them. Avindra had beated Chehan in the semifinals of the under 18 singles on his path to the national title and it was nothing different this time around as well. Avindra was on the backfoot when Fernando won the first set 2-6 but the calm Perera fought back in the next two sets to win them 6-2, 6-2.
Avindra’s start gave the Thomians the early indications of victory as the Peterite skipper Davishke Ranasinghe was matched up with STC’s Viranka Fernando. Fernando eased away in the first set to reach the win defeating Ranasinghe 6-3. With only a single set between S. Thomas’ College and victory, Viranka Fernando raced to 6 points showing no mercy to the Peterite captain who was unable to score a single point in the second set.
S. Thomas’ truly deserved the title marking an end to the national run in the racket sport for the year 2015. St. Peter’s College was unlucky this time around and had to pave the way to a new title holder.
The defending champions in the girls’ division, Visakha Vidyalaya, held on to their silverware making it a double crown this year in tennis. Facing Ladies College, it was an easy encounter for the Visakhian super duo Nethmi Waduge and Thisuri Molligoda. The under 18 national champion Nethmi Waduge found herself matched up with Medhira Samarasinghe in the first single. Although Medhira put in a top-notch performance, it was not sufficient to counter the top seed as she won the game 6-3, 6-4. With Sri Lanka’s national title holder Thisuri Molligoda walking on to the court for the second single, it was an obvious call on the victor. Thisuri defeated Serena Madanayaka of Ladies College 6-0, 6-1 showcasing her supremacy and thereby taking Visakha to the title.
Royal College defeated Ananda College 2 games to none to take the third place in the Boys category while Holy Family Convent defeated Bishop’s College to finish third in the girls’category.
The S. Thomas’ will rejoice at this victory, treating it as another milestone in their success story in tennis and it may be a bitter sweet occasion since for many of St. Peter’s it was their final appearance in their college jerseys.
