The second edition of the annual Royal-Thomian squash encounter will be worked off at the SSC squash courts this Friday.
Having lost the first encounter, S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia will be looking to settle the score while Royal College Colombo will count on their experienced senior statesmen to retain the trophy.
Last year’s encounter ended with Royal claiming the bragging rights as the first ever winners when they won 4 and lost just 1 of their matches in the under 19 category. Royal was relentless in their pursuit for glory as the team only dropped sets in one match (which they lost) and went on to win the rest of their matches in straight sets.
This year, the Thomian team will be led by experienced Chithesh Rambukpotha who in his own right is a very able match-winner.
A past student of St. Joeseph’s College Colombo, Indeera Wijayapura is the ace in the Thomian hand and the Royalists will be fully aware of the damage this player is capable of inflicting. Powerful shots combined with amazing agility makes him a very dangerous player. Another in the Thomian camp to watch out for will be young Thenuka Indrakumar who is still eligible to play in the under 16 category. Although very young, he too is a very powerful striker and is a great prospect for the future.
The Thomian team is coached by Mr. Shamin Kannangara and receive full support from their Teacher-In –Charge and Director of Sports.
The Royal College team will be led by 3rd year school coloursman and 5th year national coloursman Rashendra Rajaratna. Aside from the captain, royal will have the services of last year’s winning captain Ruweeesha Jayawardena as well. The royal camp will be confident in retaining the trophy as most of their players have national experience. Druvinka Perera, a 15 year old national coloursman is also an exciting prospect and his maturity and well balanced game is vital for the Royal College team.
Speaking to ThePapare.com, Rashendra expressed that this year Royal is gearing up for a 5-0 victory over S. Thomas’ and that the trophy will remain safely at Reid Avenue. R.S. Deen is the head coach of the Royal side while the 2004 Royal captain Madupa Jayathilake is the strength and conditioning coach. He also appreciated the efforts of their Teacher-In-Charge and Games Master for their untiring efforts.
Whatever the outcome, it is evident that this year promises to be a mouth-watering encounter for all the spectators.
S.Thomas College -A team
-Chithesh Rambukpotha
-J.S. Paul
-Indeera Wijeyapura
-T U Jayasekara
-Thenuka Indrakumar
– N S Jayasekara
Royal College-A team
-Rashane Rajarathne
-Ruweesha Jayawardena
-Buwaneka de Alwis
-Senidu Induwara
-Druvinka Perera
-Heshan Balasuriya
