Gritty Thomians emerge champs
Following the defeat in the Public Schools in 2015, S.Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia has most certainly buckled their shoes to gain consecutive victories throughout this year at both Public School and National School level matches, emerging as the undefeated Inter-School Tennis Champions of the Year. The successful team for this year consisted of dynamic, multitalented and hardworking players led by Sebastian Sansoni, vice captain Viranka Fernando and Secretary Avindra Perera.
The Thomians started their winning streak at the Under-19 Public Schools Championship by defeating Colombo International School in the group stage. They went on to outdo Ananda College in the semi-finals and later emerged as champions of the tournament by trouncing CIS again at the finals. Although the first and second doubles were lost by the pairs Sebastian Sansoni and Dulitha Ellawala and Senal Hemakumara and Thuvaragan Sabesan, Viranka Fernando (6-0, 6-2), Vihan Herath (6-2, 6-0) and Avindra Perera (6-1, 6-2) stepped up to be game changers by winning their matches to lead the team to victory after 27 years.
The National School Games Tennis Championship held thereafter in early September witnessed the participation of over 20 schools competing to be crowned as the Under-19 National champions. S. Thomas’ College paved their way to the final of the boys’ championship, defeating St. Joseph’s College Colombo in the quarter-finals and Ananda in the semi-final.
The finals saw the Thomians taking on St. Peter’s College, who had won the title for four consecutive years. Viranka Fernando won the first singles for the Thomians (6-0, 6/2) followed by Avindra Perera who won the second single (6-2, 6-0) and successfully defend the prestigious silverware for the Thomians for the third time in four years. The player of the tournament title was also won by Viranka Fernando.
The School by the Sea added another pearl to their crown by emerging victorious over their arch rivals Royal College at the annual Royal-Thomian encounter for the EFC Pereira Memorial Trophy. Although the double matches were not favourable for the Thomians which resulted in consecutive defeats, all three singles were won by Viranka Fernando (9/4), Vihan Herath (9/8) and Avindra Perera (9/2) respectively, which led the team to bring home the trophy after a year. With victory after victory under their belt, the team has remained undefeated throughout the year having played against all the competitive schools in the island, ending the season by beating Trinity College in their annual encounter.
“This year has been special for college as we have won four big trophies including the Public Schools tournament, The Royal-Thomian, The Trinity-Thomian and also National School Games. The success of our team is essentially the result of the hard work put in by our players, who have been practicing from January. We have been prudently guided by Mr. Fonseka, our MIC and coached by Mr. Anjuna Anthony since 2012. After his intervention with the team, there has been a rapid rise in our winning rate hence I would like to thank him for always lending a crucial hand whenever we needed. Also to Mr. Rohan de Silva, an old boy and current Sri Lanka Davis Cup captain, who extended his support to us whenever required. The spirit of the team has improved much, it’s not about having fun but also knowing when to be serious and work towards a common goal. Our achievement was a team effort, and we hope to keep all our ups and downs and lessons learnt in mind, and keep the college flag flying high,” Sebastian Sansoni, the captain of the Under-19 Thomian Tennis team stated.