Saturday Nov 29, 2025
Saturday Nov 29, 2025
Tuesday, 23 September 2025 02:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The victorious Royal College team From left (standing): Ashvin Wettasinghe, Ruvi Perera, Lithum Karunasiri, Senul Liyanage, Aathif Faleel (Vice-Captain), Damith Panditharatne (Coach), Yusuf Shihar (Captain), Gihan Joseph (Physio), Geesath Bathisa, and Akash Dashendra
From left (second row): Stefan Anthonypillai, Rumal Jayasinghe, Nehan Wijayanayake, Ahmed Fayaz, Pasindu Epa, and Aaqil Abdullah From left (sitting): Kithmina Ratnayake, Shamael Shakir, Sulaiman Shihar, Savain Karunasiri, Haazim Dhailamy, and Ronal Edirimanne
Centre Forward Kithmina Ratnayake netted two goals for Royal College to win Orville Abeynaike memorial trophy for the third consecutive year against arch rivals St. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia when they met for the 24th annual encounter at Colombo International Astra Turf.
Ratnayake with his unique 3-D dribbling skills scored his first goal in the third quarter of the game against aggressive and well performed Thomians, who exhibited top skills in the game.
Later he netted another goal just seven minutes before the end of the game making it 2-0 in favour of Royal. However, Thomians fought back strongly in the dying moments of the game and scored a brilliant goal through the reverse stick of Vice-Captain Jamal Lafir.
Hosts Royal ended the game in style, winning it for the third consecutive year.
The blue-black-blue boys put the Reid Avenue team under high pressure with the start of the game winning successive penalty corners. It took a while for Royalists to adjust for their opponents with the scoreless first half.
STC Mount Lavinia still lead the tally with 10 wins while Royal have won nine encounters. Five games have ended in draws.
Royal skipper Yusuf Shihar (left) receives the prestigious Orville Abeynaike Trophy from former national hockey player Nadith Kudagama. S. Thomas’ College Acting Warden Asanka S. Perera and Royal College Principal Athula Wijewardana are also present
Royal Under 20 team this year was led by Yusuf Shihar, a junior national sticker who represented Sri Lanka in recently concluded Junior Asia Cup in China, while St. Thomas senior team was captained by Bihandu Chularatne, who has represented Sri Lanka Schools hockey team.
With this game, Royal have won Dudley de Silva trophy with Wesley by 4-0, Lennie de Silva trophy against Kingswood by 3-0, and Orville Abeynaike trophy against St. Thomas by 2-1. They will play against Trinity for the J.C.A Corea Memorial trophy next week at Colombo International Astra Turf.
Royal under 16 team won by 5-1 to retain Chandi Chanmugam Challenge trophy, while under 14 also edged out Thomians by 2-0 to win Amitha Abeynaike trophy.
In the old boys game, Old Thomians won the under 40 game by 4-3 and over 40 by 3-2.
Kithmina Ratnayake won the best player award while Stefan Anthonypillai won the award for the best goalkeeper in the under 20 category.
In the under 16 category, Royal’s Savain Karunasiri was adjudged best player while Hirun Lindula of the same team won the best goalkeeper.
In the under 16 category, Royal’s Savith Karunasiri was adjudged best player while P. Dishan of St. Thomas’ won the best goalkeeper.
