St. Peter’s College will meet S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia and Visakha Vidyalaya shall meter it out with Ladies College in their run for their second national title for the year when they meet for the all-exciting Under 19 national title draw.
The All Island Under 19 Tennis championships that’s saw a start last morning at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association saw the participation of schools from the north and the east in addition to the schools in the south zone. St. John’s College Jaffna, Kudiyarippu Kalamahal Vidyalaya, Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalaya and St. Michaels College Batticaloa were the outstation representations at the Boy’s championships adding in new flair to the tournament that was predominantly seeing participation only from Colombo.
Defending champions, St. Peter’s College reached the semi finals with a walkover and faced Ananda College to book their spot in the finals. Things didn’t seem to go in the Peterite way in the first singles as Archana Lokuge came in from the back to defeat Inthujan Selvaratnarajah in the 1st Singles 2-6, 6-3 & 6-1. With the Anandians needing a single win for their final berth, it was captain Davishke Ranasinghe who got St. Peter’s the equalizing game defeating Kavindu Diluka 6-1, 6-1.
As both teams were even, the deciding fixture was the doubles game and St. Peter’s fielded in probably the best doubles pair in the country at the moment in junior tennis; Chehan Fernando and Shanitha Pieris. As the duo were successful in getting their act sorted according to plan, St. Peter’s won the game 6-2, 7-5.
In the other courts were the good old rivals Royal College and S. Thomas’ College fighting for a spot in the finals. The recently concluded national tennis championships proved out to be a fine tuning session for the Thomians going into the draw as favorites. They lived up to the expectations as the lads from Reid Avenue got had to walk away after two games. Thomian Viranka Fernando ousted national seed B. Suren 6-3, 6-1 in the first singles to STC the points. The newly crowned under 18 national champion, Avindra Perera performed the finishing rituals in the second single by winning it 6-1, 6-3. There was no necessity for a doubles, as S. Thomas’ will meet St. Peter’s College to settle their scores on Friday in the finals.
The girl’s under 19 championships saw the top four, Visakha Vidyalaya, Bishop’s College, Ladies College and Holy Family Convent making it to the finals. When the Visakhians Thisuri Molligoda and Nethmi Waduge marched onto the courts for their singles against Bishop’s College, it was evident on who would make it to the finals. The two national champions didn’t spare their opponents as Molligoda defeated Savini Jayasuriya 6-0,6-0 and Waduge defeated Isuri Dharmasiriwardena 6-1, 6-0.
It would be a tough task for the Ladies who got themselves the other final spot when they face Visakha Vidyalaya on Friday. Holy Family Convent however was no match for the LC’ites as they registered a 2-0 win in the semi finals. Serena Madanayaka defeated Fattoum Issadeen in the first single 6-0, 6-2 and it was Medira Samarasinghe who completed their quest. The former under 18 national champion defeated Janali Manamperi 6-0, 6-0 to get them the final berth.
It will be a exciting clash at the SLTA courts on Friday as Tennis giants will clash for the under 19 title and both Visakha and St. Peter’s will be eyeing their second national title for the calendar of 2015 having already won the Schools nationals.
