S.Thomas’ down Royal to win E F C Pereira trophy

S.Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia beat Royal College 3-2 for the first time in seven years to win the E.F.C.Pereira Challenge trophy in their annual tennis encounter which was played at the S.Thomas’ College hard courts.

The under-19 Thomian victory was built on spectacular team work with Hemal Wickramasinghe beating Druvi De Silva 9-4, Naveen Goonawaredene who fought hard for nearly two hours to win after a tie breaker over Umesh Sooriyabandara and the double pair Venuka Hulangamuwa and Jonathan Edward who beat R.Udisthran and S.Abeynayake 9-5.

Royal on their part won the second single with National Junior Champion Sharmal Dissanayake beating Sachin Karunanayake 9-0 and a 9-4 doubles victory by D.Abeywardene and D.Fonseka over A.Perera and A.Muthugala.

The under-13 tie was won by Royal 3-2 and S.Thomas’ College won the under 15 tie 4-0.Distinguished old boy and tennis captain of the 1958 Royal team Laith Senanayake was the chief guest at the awards ceremony that followed.