Royal College secured a thrilling 1-0 victory against archrivals and clear-cut favourites S. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia when Yusuf Shihar’s penalty corner goal assisted Royal to beat Thora after 2015 at their annual hockey big match played for the Orville Abeynaike Memorial Trophy at the University Grounds in Colombo recently.
Hosts Royal, led by Aakash Wijesekera, stunned the hockey sphere when they dominated the Thomians, who had a brilliant season so far. Royal’s centre half Thaveeru Alahakoon was adjudged best player.
STC leads the trophy tally with 10-7 with five drawn games.
Junior Thomians clinched the under-16 game 1-0, with Joshua Jayaweera scoring the winner. Royal won the over-35 old boys’ game by 2-1, with Sampath Subasinghe and Manuka Pawan scoring a goal each, while Tivanka Wijeratna scored for the Thomians.
The under-35 old boys’ game for the Nihal Nilaweera Memorial Trophy ended in a 1-1 draw, with former Sri Lanka player Shahid Kuthubdeen scoring for Royal and Romesh Nallapperuma scoring for the Old Thomians. Royal retained the trophy.