Royal produced some sublime tennis to rout their traditional rivals S. Thomas' College 3-0 in their annual Under 19 tennis encounter, and walk away with the E.F.C Pereira Challenge Trophy, after action at the SLTA Courts yesterday.
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| Royal College tennis skipper Shaakir returns serve. Pic by Amila Prabodha. |
Their victory in the under 19 category was supplemented by 3-2 victories in both the Under 13 and Under 15 age groups. The Thomians were considered favourites in the Under 13 group but some strong play from Mihinda Samarasinghe and Umesh Suriyabandara helped turned the tide Royal's way.
In the day's main Under 19 match, Royal College's Captain M. Shaakir grinded his way to a hard fought 9-7 victory over Avishka Perera. Perera started the game strongly, racing to an early 4-2 lead, courtesy of some heavy serving and strong play from the back of the court.
However, Shaakir, who initially struggled to find his rhythm, stormed back into the match, claiming two games on the trot to even things up at 4-4. As the game wore on Shaakir started to find his touch and timing, and dazzled the crowd with some scintillating drop shots and powerful ground strokes. As the scoreline reached 7-6 in Shaakir's favour, he turned on the heat further, moving to the net aggressively and executing some textbook volleys.
Perera though, did not give in, and continued to fight until the end, forcing Shaakir to serve out the match at 8-7. This he did in fine style, thumping down several lightning-quick serves to claim the final game with little distress, much to the delight of the several Royal supporters present.
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