Royal win Dudley de Silva Trophy in Wesley hockey encounter
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Royal skipper Yusuf Shihar receives the trophy from former Sri Lanka national sticker and Royal old boy Sandun Channa Gajanayake
A hat-trick by Lithum Karunasiri helped Royal College beat Wesley College in their annual hockey encounter played for the Dudley de Silva Trophy at Reid Avenue recently. The host Royalists, the runners-up in the recently concluded Western Provincial Hockey Tournament, were the favourites in this year’s encounter which was played for the first time in 2018. Wesley stickers fought better than expected in the game.
Royal, led by Yusuf Shihar, who represented Sri Lankan in Junior Asia Cup in China this year, was dominant in all departments; attack, defence, hitting and stopping, and dribbling since the start though they played a slow, but a controlled game. The Reid Avenue School led by 2-0 at halftime.
Karunasiri scored two goals in the first quarter while Rumal Jayasinghe scored in the third quarter. Karunasiri scored another goal in the fourth quarter and adjudged best player on the game for his hat-trick goals. The Wesley encounter is the first of four annual big matches Royal are set to play this year. The other games are against Kingswood College, Trinity College, and arch rivals S. Thomas’ College.
In the junior Under-14 category, Royal outclassed Wesley by 8-0. This trophy is named after Dudley Kenneth George de Silva, the man with an illustrious educationist and proud Royalist, served as the Principal of Royal College from 1954 to 1966. During his tenure, he reshaped the school’s sporting and cultural life: introducing rowing, hockey, basketball, rifle shooting, and launching countless societies and clubs that still thrive to this day.
Since the start in 2007, Royal College has been the dominant force, winning the majority of encounters, with decisive victories in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Standing (from left): Prabath Gallage (Senior Master in-Charge), Kithmina Ratnayake, Lithum Karunasiri, Geesath Bathisa, Ruvi Perera, Ashvin Wettasinghe, Nehan Wijayanayake, Akash Dashendra, Damith Panditharatne (Coach), Aathif Faleel (Vice Captain), Yusuf Shihar (Captain), Senul Liyanage, Yasiru Prashan, Avanka Fernando (Principal, Wesley College) and Krishantha Silva (Senior Deputy Principal, Royal College) Squatting (from left): Ronal Edrimanne, Rumal Jayasinghe, Aaqil Abdullah, Haazim Dhailamy, Pasindu Epa, Savain Karunasiri, Ahmed Fayaz, Sulaiman Shihar, and Stefan Anthonypillai