19th Battle of the Blues hockey encounter – Thomians retain Orville Abeynaike Trophy

The 19th Annual Royal-Thomian hockey encounter for the Orville Abeynaike trophy was played on Saturday 11 November at the Astro turf and the Thomians emerged winners by beating Royal College 1-0. 

Savindu Wanigasoriya scored for the Thomians in the 47th minute and retained the trophy for the second year. The tally in the series stands at nine wins for the Thomians, six for Royal and four games ending in draws. At last year’s 1st XI encounter the Thomians won 3-0 and regained the trophy after a lapse of 10 years.

The under 16 match Royal emerged winners by beating S. Thomas’ 2-1. Thaviru Alahakoon and Rumeth Jayasinghe scored for the Royalists while M.A. Iflal scored for the Thomians.

The Orville Abeynaike Trophy was donated by the family of late Abeynaike. He was an old Thomian and had the distinction of playing cricket for S. Thomas’ in 1940 and 1941. He joined the staff of S. Thomas’ in 1959 and served his alma mater faithfully until 1981. 

He was also the Sub Warden of S. Thomas’ college as well as the Coach and Master in Charge of Cricket and Hockey, which spanned almost two decades and produced some of the most outstanding  sportsmen in that era.

In the old boys encounter for the Nihal Nilaweera trophy, Royal College won 2-0 and the goals were scored by F. Halaj and S. Kuthubdeen.

The umpires at the match were M. Naushad, I. Akalanka and A.C. Fernando.