History turned a new page for the boys of Bambalapitiya a fortnight back at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association where St. Peter’s College retained their under 19 title after a close tussle against Royal College in the finals completing their Grand Slam winning all three divisions in the school arena.
The frontrunners in the school Tennis arena St. Peter’s College takes the honor of being the first institution in the country to complete a triple title winning all three age groups; under 15, under 17 and under 19 since the tournament saw its beginning.
The Peterites who came in to the competitive tennis stage in the 1990’s began climbing the peak in the early 2000’s as on paper, St. Peter’s College have been able to win 9 Under 19 titles within the duration of 11 years which is yet a record to be beaten by any school. This year’s under 19 win came in as their third consecutive in the title and adding to that were the under 15 & 17 victories.
The under 19 title took place in a duration of 10 days and the victors St. Peter’s found themselves in the same group with Royal College, Ananda College, Trinity College and St. Benedict’s College. Having had the luck of ending in the top two alongside Royal College, the Peterites had CIS in the semi-finals.
The players from Colombo International School who are acclaimed to be at the top of their form made St. Peter’s toil hard for their final spot as they were playing sans their skipper Davishka Ranasinghe who had to be hospitalized. As the decider for the final spot came down to the victor of the 2nd doubles game and it was U Dilshanth and Shanitha Perera who brought home victory for St. Peter’s defeating their opponents 6/3, 6/0.
The much awaited final that was scheduled for Monday was against Royal College who outwitted arch -rivals S. Thomas College in their semi final encounter. The finals were nothing short of excitement and saw both teams once again on equal ground with the final doubles to be the deciding encounter.
The responsibility of a Peterite victory was vested upon the Dishanth Shanitha duo who brought victory home for the Peterites in the final set as St. Peter’s made history.
Rev. Fr. Trevor Martin, the Rector of St. Peter’s College speaking to ThePapare.com expressed these words on their elusive feat,
“I am very happy with the win this year and not only our boys won but they made history winning all three age groups. I have been getting wishes from around the world congratulating college on the win. I would also like to thank the coach Mr. Pathiraja and master-in-charge Mr. Bernard Jesuthasan and also the team who made a lot of sacrifices in this win.”
A victorious skipper, Davishka Ranasinghe added these words on the victory ” As a captain I am extremely proud of our achievement and all of us worked hard for it.”
It was a moment where Peterite Tennis reached their utmost achievement in their long standing history in the sport and voicing his opinion, the Sports Coordinator for St. Peter’s College
Rev. Fr. Sharm Dissanyaka shared these words,
“I really can’t praise them enough. They work really hard. They play for each other. They have no stars in their team in that all are treated equally. Their remarkable courage in fighting back from adversity time and time again is outstanding. “
