Royal and Visakha clinch Tennis Titles

Royal College and Visakha Vidyalaya emerged Boys’ and Girls’ champions respectively at the All-Island School Games Under-20 Tennis Tournament, which concluded at the SLTA Courts in Green Path.

Royal continued their winning spree and went on to beat Ananda College 2-1 in the Boys’ Championship final while Visakha rallied around magnificently to overcome Bishop’s College in the Girls’ Tournament final.. Royal, of course, suffered an early setback in the final as their Captain Ramith Herath suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Hasal Ahangama 6-3, 6-3 in the opening Singles game.

However, Royal came back into the game as the more experienced Thehan Wijemanne defeated Apna Perera 6-2, 6-1 in the second Singles tie and to level the scores.

Thereafter, Dhilvan Herath and Nethwin Dharmaratne sealed the final in Royal’s favour by overcoming Anujaya Abeywickrama and Hesara Kuruppu 6-2, 6-3 in the opening Doubles fixture.

Earlier, Royal had the satisfaction of defeating their traditional rivals S. Thomas’ College 2-1 in the semi-finals. Herath gave Royal a winning start by overcoming Reshane Dwight 6-4, 6-4 in the opening Singles before the Thomians came back into the game with Zaidh Zihar recording a 6-2, 6-3 win against Thehan Wijemanne.

However, Herath joined Nethwin Dharmaratne and went on to beat the combination of Rakesh Ratnasingham and Wenuka Kithnula 6-1, 6-1 in the deciding Doubles encounter that separated the two teams. Meanwhile, the Thomians eventually had to settle for third place in the Boys’ Tournament while Musaeus College secured third place in the Girls’ Championship.

Earlier, in the first round, Royal outplayed St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna 3-0 and in the second round they trounced St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa 3-0.