Marching Royal face Thomain road block hurdle

By Susil Premalal)

S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia are expected to go all out against arch rivals Royal College who are aiming for a third successive win at their Orville Abeynaike trophy hockey match today (Saturday) at the Colombo International Astra Turf.

Royal have won the trophy in the last two years when the game was played on grass.

The boys from Mount Lavinia lead the series with 10 wins while Royal have won eight encounters. Five games have ended in draws.

Royal is led by Yusuf Shihar, a junior national sticker who represented Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Junior Asia Cup in China while the Thomian team is captained by Bihandu Chularatne, who has represented the 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 the Blue and Gold Hockey Sevens pre-quarter final in August this year.

Royal emerged first 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 the Dudley de Silva trophy by 4-0 and against Kingswood for the Lennie de Silva trophy 3-0.

S. Thomas’ won their encounter against Wesley for the Rev. Mark Billimoria Challenge trophy 7-0, but lost to Trinity College in their encounter for the Neville de Alwis Shield 2-3 this season.

The Teams:

Royal College: 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: 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.