The 19th annual Royal-Thomian hockey encounter for the Orville Abeynaike Memorial Trophy was played at the Astro turf where S. Thomas’ College emerged winners by beating Royal College 1-0.
Savindu Wanigasoriya scored for the Thomians in the 47th minute and they won the trophy for the second year running.
The tally in the series stands at nine wins for the Thomians, six for Royal with four games ending in draws. Last year the Thomians won 3-0 and regained the trophy after a lapse of 10 years.
In the under-16 match Royal emerged winners by beating S.Thomas’ 2-1 with Thaviru Alahakoon and Rumeth Jayasinghe scoring for Royal while M.A.Iflal scored for the Thomians.
The Orville Abeynaike Trophy was donated by the family of the late Thomian who 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 school 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 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 AC Fernando.