A brilliant reverse stick goal by skipper Yusuf Shihar and two late goals by centre forward Kithmina Rathnayake helped Royal College, Colombo beat Kingswood College, Kandy in their annual hockey encounter played for the Lennie de Silva Trophy, held at the Peradeniya University Grounds last Sunday (7). 

The Reid Avenue team won the trophy for the first time since 2019. 

Both teams played brilliant hockey from the start, but Royal skipper and left half Shihar penetrated Kingswood’s territory and scored a reverse stick goal in the 12th minute of the game. 

Host Kingswood fought hard and won many penalty corners in the first half, but Royal defence led by Vice Captain Aathif Faleel along with Ruvi Perera thwarted all the opportunities the Kandy school had. 

Royal led by 1-0 at half-time. 

Until the last quarter, the game was evenly poised with Kingswood stepping up its attack. 

In the fourth quarter, Rathnayake scored two goals in quick succession, including from a penalty corner, to finish the encounter with a 3-0 victory. 

With that, Royal recorded their second win in trophy matches after winning the Dudley de Silva Trophy against Wesley College, Colombo. 

Royal will be playing against their archrivals S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia on 20 September for the Orville Abeynayake Memorial Trophy and Trinity College, Kandy eight days later for the J.C.A. Corea Memorial Trophy. Royal will host both matches at the Colombo International Astro Turf.  

Royal, led by Shihar, who represented Sri Lanka in the Junior Asia Cup in China this year, emerged runners-up in the Western Province Hockey Tournament. 

The team has been coached by veteran Sri Lanka and former Air Force hockey player Damith Panditharatne since 2023. 

This trophy is named after Lennie de Silva, a distinguished old boy of Kingswood College who holds a pivotal place in Sri Lankan school hockey history. He introduced the sport of hockey to Royal College in 1955, laying the foundation for their now-legendary programme. 

Meanwhile, in the Junior category, the Royal Under 16 team won by 3-2 to secure the Kathab Roshan Memorial Trophy, while the Under 12 team edged out the Kandy team by 1-0 in the exhibition match. 

The winning Royal team

Yusuf Shihar (Captain), ⁠Aathif Faleel (Vice Captain), ⁠Lithum Karunasiri, ⁠Senul Liyanage, ⁠Geesath Bathisa, ⁠Ashvin Wettasinghe, ⁠Akash Deshendra, ⁠Kithmina Rathnayake, Shamaeel Shakir, ⁠Rumal Jayasinghe, ⁠Ruvi Perera, ⁠Stefan Antonypillai, ⁠Nehan Wijayanayake, ⁠Haazim Dhailamy, ⁠Pasindu Epa, ⁠Aaqil Abdullah, ⁠Ronal Edrimanne, ⁠Ahmed Fayaz, ⁠Sulaiman Shihar, and ⁠Savain Karunasiri