STC looks to stop Royal hat-trick in 24th Orville Abeynaike hockey encounter

Friday, 19 September 2025 00:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

S.Thomas team: K.M.B.W. Chularatne (Captain), A.J.A. Lafir (Vice-Captain), K.D.S. Perera, S. Sanjit, C.D.S. Grero, D.M.Dewane, S.E.B. Hewawickrama, V.L.Lakshitha, K.M.K.K.B Gunarathne, D. D. Singh, A.Iflal, R.K. Dawson, O.T.R. De Silva, J.D.P.Jayaweera, K.K.Binduhewa, N.M.Naveendran, K.W.D.C Kariyawasam, D.M.A. Clamence, W.D.S.M. Fernando, and A. Samuel

Royal team: Yusuf Shihar (Captain), Aathif Faleel (Vice-Captain), Lithum Karunasiri, Senul Liyanage, Geesath Bathisa, Ashvin Wettasinghe, Akash Dashendra, Kithmina Ratnayake , Yasiru Prashan, Shamael Shakir, Rumal Jayasinghe, Ruvi Perera, Stefan Anthonypillai, Nehan Wijayanayake, Haazim Dhailamy, Pasindu Epa, Aaqil Abdullah, Ronal Edrimanne, Ahmed Fayaz, Sulaiman Shihar, and Savain Karunasiri

S.Thomas College Mount Lavinia will look for their best performance to thwart arch rivals Royal winning the Orville Abeynaike trophy for the third consecutive year when they meet for the 24th annual encounter on Saturday at Colombo International Astra Turf.

Royal have won the trophy by 1-0 in the last two years when the game was played at grass court.

Blue-black-blue boys from Mount Lavinia lead the tally with 10 wins while Royal have won eight encounters. Five games have ended in draw.

Royal Under-20 team is led by Yusuf Shihar, a junior national sticker who represented Sri Lanka in recently concluded Junior Asia Cup in China, while S. Thomas senior team is captained by Bihandu Chularatne, who has represented Sri Lanka schools hockey team.

Both teams have not played against each other in the 11-a-side version this year. Royal edged out S.Thomas when they met at Blue and Gold Hockey 7s pre-quarter final in August this year.

Royal emerged 1st runner up in the Western Province hockey tournament while S.Thomas emerged as third runner up.

Royal have already won their trophy match against Wesley for Dudley de Silva trophy by 4-0 and against Kingswood for Lennie de Silva trophy by 3-0.

Meanwhile STC won their encounter with Wesley for Rev. Mark Billimoria Challenge trophy by 7-0, but list to Trinity College in their encounter for Neville de Alwis shield by 2-3 during this season.

Royal host this year’s event.

Both schools also will play for Over-40 and Under-40 in Old Boys category while they will also play Under-16 for Chandi Chanmugam Challenge trophy and Under-14 game as well.