St. Peter’s dominate the school tennis scene again

Peterites proved their exceptional tennis skills as they clinched the All Island Inter-school Overall Tennis Championship Trophy for the year 2008 at the recently concluded tournament at the SLTA courts.

This was the third time in 4 years that the Peterites won the much coveted trophy having won earlier in 2005 & 2007.

In the year 2007 they won the unprecedented “Triple” in schools tennis - that is the Inter Schools, national, schools and mini tennis. Peterite success story was a total effort. From the very word go it was a team endeavour.

The under 13 team was runners up in their age category. Playing the group B of their age category they defeated St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena 35/0, St. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia 30/05, Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala 28/07 and St. Peter’s College, Negombo by 35/0 to emerge as the unbeaten team from Group B.

In the semi finals the Peterites took on Colombo International School which boasted of a very strong line up and were expected to win the age group championship.

The Peterites beat them by 3 matches to 2 to reach the final and ultimately lost to Royal College by 3 matches to 1 in the final thus ending up as runners up. The team was captained by Shashanka Gomez with Davishka Ranasinghe as his deputy.

The under 15 team won the championship trophy in their particular age group. Playing in Group A in their age category they beat De Mazenod College, Kandana 35/0, St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 30/5, St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa 35/0, Nalanda College, Colombo 35/0, Trinity College, Kandy 35/0, Ananda College 35/0 and Thurstan College 35/0 to emerge as the undisputed leaders in that group.

In the semi final they beat St. Thomas’, Mt. Lavinia by 3 matches to nil to reach the final and in the final defeated the strong Ananda College side by 3 matches to nil to win the championship. The Captain of the team was Hamdan Othman with R. Rajeevan as vice captain.

The under 17 team was unlucky to be placed third in their age category. The team might have turned in a better performance if not for the fact there were some unsavoury incidents in the tournament by certain well known “Super Power” schools in the tennis circles that used to dominate the tournament in the past.

They were playing in Group A of the tournament and they beat St. Joseph’s, Colombo 35/0, Trinity College, Kandy 21/14, Nalanda College 35/0, Issipathana College 35/0, De Mazenod College 35/0 and St. Thomas’ Prep School 21/14. After emerging champions from Group A they were unfortunate in that they had to play the eventual champions Royal College in the semi finals.

In the third place “play off” they beat Trinity College by 3 matches nil to annexe the third place. The team was captained by Shavith Fernando with Dasitha Mendis as his deputy.

The Under 19 Team proved their metal when they routed their opponents to clinch the Championship Trophy in their age category. This particular age group has been an unbeaten side from their induction to Tennis from the time they were in Under 10. Peterites record with pride this spectacular achievement of a team of youngsters going up from Under 10 right upto Under 19 winning the championship in every age group they played in.

This is the 6th consecutive year of being champions for this same set of boys coming from Under 10. In the Group matches they beat Trinity 35/0, Asian International School 18/17, De Mazenod College 35/0, Nalanda College 35/0 and Thurstan College 35/0 to emerge as the winners of their group.

In the semi finals they easily beat Royal College by 3 matches to nil and in the final beat Ananda College who were strong contenders for the championship by the same margin.

The captain was Kevin Markandarajah with Danutha Fernando, Sanjaya Senanayake and Kanishka Herath as his deputies.

Peterites by virtue of the points gathered from all age categories won the prestigious Overall Tennis Championship Trophy for the 2nd consecutive year and the third time in the last four years.

St. Peter’s tennis teams have been coached by Dinith Pathiraja for the past ten years and he has at no time compromised on quality. Master in Charge Bernard Jesuthasan attributes the Peterite success to the Discipline and commitment displayed at all age groups.