54th Saints’ Quadrangular next weekend
Atotal of 21 games under three disciplines – cricket, rugby and basketball – will attract over 500 sportsmen from Sri Lanka’s four renowned catholic schools at the 54th Saints’ Quadrangular, which is set to take place on September 29 and 30 at four venues in Colombo. Represented by distinguished sportsmen who were at their helms as schoolboys of the four ‘Saints’ schools – St. Anthony’s College Katugastota, St. Benedict’s College, St. Joseph’s College and St. Peter’s College – the two-day sporting gala will promise the thrills and fills by these yesteryear heroes.
The event consists of two cricket competitions, the Main Quad and the Over-40s Quad, a rugby 7s tournament and the star-studded basketball competition, where a number of national players are set to be part of.
The rugby 7s competition will be a single day affair, with the four sides expected to take on each other in a round robin stage, before the top two teams battle out in the final at the St. Peter’s College ground in Bambalapitiya on Friday, September 29. Each team will play the other beginning from 7.30am as the competition is expected to wind with the final set to take place at 1.30pm.
The cricket competitions will be played at three venues – Bambalapitiya, Darley Road and Kotahena – beginning from the semifinal stage. The semi-finals of the main competition, the Main Quad, and the Over-40s will be played from September 29. In the Main Quad, St. Anthony’s will take on St. Benedict’s at Kotahena while St. Joseph’s will take on traditional rivals St. Peter’s at Darley Road. The winners of both encounters will meet in the final which will be played on September 30 at Kotahena.
The two semi-finals of the Over40s, played as T20s, will also be played on September 29 at Bambalapitiya. The first game will be between St. Anthony’s and St. Benedict’s between 10.00am to 1.15pm, followed by the game between St. Joseph’s and St. Peter’s from 2.00pm onwards. These games will be played in-between the rugby 7s competitions, which takes place at the same venue from dusk. The final will be played the following day from 9.00am.
All basketball games will take
place at the St. Benedict’s College courts on September 29 and 30, with the first day set for the round robin stage. Four matches will take place between 7.30am and 10.00am and 4.00pm and 6.00pm on the first day, while the remaining two round robin games will be played from 7.30am on the following day. The third place playoff will begin at 2.30pm, followed by the final from 4.00pm.
Trophies will be on offer in all sports disciplines with the main title being the Ranjith Samarasekara Memorial Trophy for the overall winners. Winners and runners-up trophies will be on offer in addition to individual awards. In the Main Quad, individual awards for player of the series, best batsman, best bowler and best fielder will be up for grabs, as the Over-40s. The winning basketball team will walk away with the Rev. Fr. Joe E. Wickramasinghe Trophy, while the most valuable player, best defensive player and best offensive player will be recognised with individual awards. Rugby 7s will also have the winner and runners-up
titles, in addition to the player of the tournament award.
In the past 53 Saints’ Quadrangular events taken place so far, St. Peter’s College have emerged overall winners thrice, since the award was introduced in 2017. In the last event held in November 2022 at the St. Peter’s College facilities, the hosts St. Peter’s won both cricket competitions – Main Quad and Over-40s – both played as T10s. The basketball competition was also won by the Old Peterites, while the rugby 7s was won by the Old Joes.
This time around, Old Benedictines Sports Club of St. Benedict’s College takes charge as the hosts of the 54th Saints’ Quadrangular, which will culminate with an evening social gathering at the Old Bens Sports Club premises in Kotahena. The chief guest of the awards ceremony will be Ranjan Nadeshapillai, a double coloursman from St. Benedict’s who went become a chartered architect, while Damodaran Chandrasiri and Joy Bernard will join in as guests of honour.