Royalists bag the Hayman Trophy for the third consecutive year

Leslie FERNANDO

Royal College have been dominating in the game of water polo this season too and defeated their traditional rivals S. Thomas College at the annual water polo encounter to win the Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy for the third consecutive year.

The first leg of the under-19 game was played at the Sugathadasa Stadium pool on November 14 and the Colombo 7 lads won the game convincingly scoring an eight goals to three win over S. Thomas’ College.

The second leg was played at the same venue on November 18 under lights and the atmosphere was electrifying with the Royalists sensing victory again for the third successive year. The pool complex at Sugathadasa Stadium was packed to capacity with ardent supporters of both schools cheering.

The game got underway and the Thomians drew first blood by scoring a goal and Royal came back with the equalizer and ended the first quarter in their favour 3-2. The second quarter totally belonged to the Royalists and ended with three goals to a solitary goal by the Thomians.

At this moment the total tally read as 14 goals to 6. Thomians came back strongly displaying the Thomian grit and the third quarter 4 - nil.

The fourth quarter was so tense with Royalists determined to get back into the game and managed to score two goals against one goal scored by the Thomians and make the 2nd leg a tie. In the final analysis the Royalists did well and were awarded the Dr. R.L. Hayman Trophy for the third year in a row.

The main contributors for the Royal second leg encounter were Bilal Hassan 5 goals, Yahan Samarajeeva 2, Zaman Ali Yakoob 1. While S. Wijeratnam, Chamara Perera, Darith de Silva scored 2 goals each and S. Warnapura, Manjith Thamanegama a goal each for S. Thomas’ Bilal Hassan who was the main scorer with 9 goals was adjudged most valuable player of the tournament.

It was a well deserved finale to the water polo season for the Royalists who did well during the year winning all school tournaments and the open Ellawala League Tournament. The main scorers for Royal College this season were Bilal Hassan 45 goals, Zaman Ali Yakoob 24, Shehan Dassanayake 22, Yahan Samarajeeva 14. The agile goal keeper Awnee Razack did well during the season while all other team members supported well.