49th Saints Quadrangular set for August

The 49th Saints Quadrangular Old Boys’ tournament between St. Joseph’s College Colombo (SJC), St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya (SPC), St. Benedict’s College Colombo (SBC) and St. Anthony’s College Kandy (SACK) will take place on 6 and 7 August, and will have Minister and former Josephian ruggerite Harin Fernando as Chief Guest.

The tournament, which is the oldest tournament among old boys’ associations, first took place in 1963 after an open invitation put forth by the Old Benedictines to all schools was answered by SJC, SPC and SACK.

The tournament, which initially consisted of just a two-day cricket match, has since been expanded to include basketball and rugby, while the cricket portion of the tournament has been amended into two segments: an Under-40 50-over match and an Over-40 25-over match. Two Under-40 cricket matches will be played on 6 August, with St. Joseph’s hosting St. Peter’s and St. Benedict’s hosting St. Anthony’s. The winners of the two matches will face each in the final on 7 August, which will be played at St. Joseph’s cricket ground. All the matches will begin at 9.45 a.m. Meanwhile, the first two Over-40 matches will be played at St. Peter’s cricket ground, with St. Joseph’s taking on St. Peter’s at 9.30 a.m. and St. Benedict’s taking on St. Anthony’s at 2.30 p.m. The final will take place on 7 August at 10.00 a.m. and will be hosted by St. Benedict’s.

The basketball tournament will see each team face every other team once over the course of six matches, with four of the group matches being played on the 6 August and the remaining two on 7 August. The final will be played on 7 August at 3.30 p.m. between the first and second place finishers in the group. All matches will take place at the St. Joseph’s basketball court.

Meanwhile, the rugby tournament will be a seven-a-side skirmish with all matches taking place on 7 August. With games not taking too long to finish, the starting time for the tournament will be decided on the day. However, it promises to be an entertaining affair, with most of the leading national and club rugby players produced by the four schools taking part. The winners of the two cricket matches will be awarded with the Quandragular Trophies, while the winners of the basketball tournament will receive the ‘Very Rev. Fr. Joe. E. Wickremasinghe’ Trophy. The winners of the rugby tournament meanwhile will take home the ‘Ranjith Samarasekera’ Challenge trophy, which was donated by the Old Peterites Sports Club in recognition of his commitment and excellent service rendered towards the Saints Quadrangular. It was Samarasekera who convinced the OBUs of the four schools to make this an annual event.

Pix by Daminda Harsha Perera