Sports
Royal beat Thomians to clinch Orville Abeynaike Trophy
Underdogs Royal College stunned their arch rivals S.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia when center forward Yusuf Shihar’s solitary penalty corner goal helped them win Orville Abeynaike Trophy in their hockey big match on Saturday at Colombo University ground.
The victory was the first win for Royal in the trophy match since 2015.
The Mount Lavinia team was the clear favourites in this year’s (22nd) edition of the game after winning their match against Trinity by 4-2 last week.
The hosts Royal led by Aakash Wijesekera were surprisingly in control of the game from the first minute, but missed close chances in repeated penalty corners.
At the 43rd minute, center forward Yusuf Shihar changed the game with his penalty corner hit. The ball got lofted in his second attempt to the goal to hit the board to give the famous victory for the Reid Avenue team.
Thomians were in the possession of the trophy for the past six year.
Royal’s Center Half Thaveeru Alahakoom was adjudged the best player of the game for his consistent and solid defence throughout the game.
Royal is coached by former Nalandian Insaka Samaranayaka with former nationals Damith Panditharathne and Shahid Kuthubdeen as his assistants.
Thomians who are known for speed found it difficult due to slow conditions at the Colombo University ground.
The game was at 0-0 at the lemons.
Thomians got some opportunities in the last quarter including a last minute penalty corner, but Royalists thwarted all the attempts to record the stunning victory.
Despite the win, S. Thomas leads the tally with 10 wins against Royal’s seven in the trophy started back in 2000. Five games have ended in draw.
Abeethe Fernando and Ishara Kulatunga controlled the game.
In the junior under 16 category, S. Thomas’ won 1-0 with Joshua Jayaweera scoring at the start of the game.
Royal won the over 35 old boys game 2-1 with Sampath Subasinghe and Manuka Pawan scoring a goal each while Tivanka Wijeratna scored at the last minute in a penalty corner for Thomians.
The under 35 old boys match for Nihal Nilaweera memorial trophy ended in a 1-1 draw with former Sri Lankan player Shahid Kuthubdeen scoring for Royal and Romesh Nallapperuma scoring for Old Thomians. Royal retained the trophy.
Galle secured the country’s premier First Class cricket title – National Super League (NSL) – when they overcame Dambulla on first innings points in the final that concluded at SSC yesterday.
Galle and Dambulla qualified for the final after topping the points table in the league stage and Galle were declared champions after their first innings victory.
Put into bat first, Galle posted 370 thanks to a hundred by Oshada Fernando and Dinesh Chandimal (80) as they shared an 118 run stand for the second wicket. Quick Mohammad Shiraz was the pick of the bowlers finishing with six wickets.
Wicketkeeper Vishad Randkia held Dambulla’s innings together posting a hundred after opener Ron Chandgraguptha had hit 65. Dambulla were bowled out for 313 with Nimsara Atharagalla picking up five wickets.
The fact that Dambulla ended up with a first innings deficit meant that they had to win the game outright to clinch the title.
All what Galle had to do was to bat out time with a bit of bad weather around the corner and that’s exactly what they did to secure the title.
They posted 246 for five with Dinesh Chandimal scoring another half-century in the second innings.
At 162 for five, Dambulla still had an outside chance but Dunith Wellalage and Ramesh Mendis posted unbeaten half-centuries to ensure the title was theirs.
Ramesh Mendis finished as the second highest leading run scorer in the competition with 454 runs followed by Chandimal with 453 runs.
ITF Junior Circuit J30 Week I Tennis
Dinara de Silva, the winner of the ITF Junior Circuit J30 week one tournament advanced to the second round of the week two tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Shreeya Deshpande of India at the SSC courts in Colombo.
While Gehansa Methnadi reached the second round with a 7-4, 6-4 win in the girls’ singles, Mayooran Kubherane and Ganuka Fernando booked second round berths in the boys’ singles. Yuhansa Peiris and Ashlin de Silva reached the second round earlier.
The second round matches were scheduled for yesterday evening.
Gehansa Methnadi
Results
Girls
Dinara de Silva beat Shreeya Deshpande
(India) 6-2, 6-2.
Gehansa Methnadi beat Yuner Chi
(China) 7-4, 6-4.
Arzan Khorakiwal
a (India) beat Sandhithi Usgodaarachchi 6-2, 6-2.
Boys
Mayooran Kubherane beat Mannan Ashok Agarwa
(India) 6-2, 0-6, 6-2.
Ganuka Fernando beat Yong Ze Huang
(China) 4-1 (Yong retired)
Mahit Mekala
(India) beat Rehan Gunawardene 6-0, 6-0
Jingqi Yang
(China) beat Jayen de Seram 6-4, 6-3.
Pratyush Loganathan
(India) beat Jamal Zabry 6-0, 6-2.
The Old Thomian Rugby Football Union [OTRFU] is set to celebrate seven decades of rugby at S.Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia, by holding a Beach Tag Rugby Carnival at the Club House premises of the Port City Colombo from 3.00p.m. onward on Saturday 24th May 2025.
President of the OTRFU Ashean Karthelis speaking at a press briefing held to launch the event at the CR and FC club house said that the Beach Rugby Carnival was a land mark event commemorating the legacy and spirit of Thomian rugby. He added that with 27 sponsors coming on board the event was bound to be a tremendous success and would be more an evening of fun and frolic for the whole family rather than a beach tag rugby competition.
Tournament Director Dilroy Fernando said that the inaugural beach tag rugby carnival organised by OTRFU will be a seven a side event limited to sixteen teams. Each team is to comprise 12 male players and two female players and it was compulsory that the playing seven include a female player at all times. Fernando said that the entry fee per team would be Rs 10,000/- and would include kits, refreshments and more.
The Cup champions will receive a cash award of Rs 200,000/-, Cup runners up Rs 100,000/- and the Most Valuable Male and Female player Rs 25,000/- each
He added that players who represented ‘A’ division club teams during the 2024 / 2025 season in league, knock out or sevens tournament will not be eligible to participate
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