Royal College Colombo emerged as undisputed champions at the 16th Annual Hockey Encounter 2015 for Orville Abeynaike Trophy which was worked off this evening at the Astro Turf Hockey Grounds in Colombo.
With the weather favouring the start of play, the Thomians took possession amidst worries of rainy conditions. The Royalists, stealing advantage persisted through a fiercely defending Thomians brigade to bag the first point to nil. Thomians who were unwilling to be shadowed by the Royalists, stepped up their game plan and made it hard for the Royal defenders. Pasindu Charuka from Royal College drew the first blood just before the whistle to end the first half.
Half Time: Royal 01 – S. Thomas’ 00
The restart was by the Reid Avenue boys who were already comfortably positioned to bring the game on as they were awarded seven penalty corners throughout the second half, all of which went scoreless. Shaheer Bari from Royal College played remarkably well but failed to convert a couple of penalties.
Taking advantage of foul play, the Thomians got off the mark with a penalty shoot-out which was successfully converted into a goal by D. Mahawanchchakkara. Tension ran high within the Royalists camp, as the Thomians were heartily defending with a planned attack to outscore the Royalists which resulted in Vindula Jayalath of Royal College being sin binned. As hopes of the Thomians dwindled with an unsuccessful penalty corner, Royal boys showcased great companionship with Pasindu Charuka scoring his second goal through a brilliant pass from his own Left Extreme.
As minutes passed, a good attack by the Thomians was also showcased at the last minute of the match but was not enough to turn the game around before the final whistle was blown.
Full Time: Royal 02 – S. Thomas’ 01
The Old Boys Hockey Encounter for Nihal Nilaweera Memorial Trophy was carried off by the 
Old Royal stickers by 01 point to 00.
The L.N.A. Wickramasinghe Memorial Trophy for the most outstanding player was awarded to Pasindu Charuka of Royal College who saved the game for the boys from Colombo 07 at the Annual 16th Hockey Encounter 2015 for Orville Abeynaike Trophy.
Until this encounter the Thomians had won seven encounters while Royalists won on five occasions, with three encounters ending in draws.
The old boys match was played for the Nihal Nilaweera trophy at 3.15pm at the same venue. Even though the Thomians played exceedingly well, Tanweer Ahamad, a past pupil of Royal College, who played as a top striker, scored a goal, making the goal margin 1-0 at the end of the match.
