Royal clinch Lennie De Silva title in Kingwood hockey encounter

The Royal College 1st XI hockey team, exhibiting excellent skills, routed Kingswood College, Kandy by 4-0 in the 10th annual encounter for the Lennie de Silva trophy played, on November 28 at the Colombo Astro Turf ground.

Hosts Royal, who had won all their big matches in the season, scored the first goal through a penalty corner from centre forward and vice captain Imaadh Dole during the 10th minute of the first half. Three minutes later Thineth Karunaratne scored the second goal for the Colombo school, while Imaadh Dole added another goal to increase the lead to 3-0 heading into halftime.

Royalist Sajaad Irshad scored the solitary goal of the second half to end things at 4-0. With the win, Royal lead the tally 6-1, with three games ending in a draw. Royal’s only loss came in 2006.

Lennie de Silva, a past Kingswoodian, led the charge in starting hockey at Royal as the master-in-charge in 1955.

The Royalists, trained by former Sri Lankan coach Rohan Dissanayake, are expected to finish the season on high note after already having won all their big matches. They defeated Trinity College, Kandy, and Wesley College, Colombo, by 9-0 each, before edging out S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia 2-1.

By winning all four big matches, the Colombo team has offered a fillip to Royal College Hockey, which is celebrating its diamond jubilee this year.

The junior Royal team won the Kathab Roshan Memorial Trophy by edging out the Kandy school by 4-1 after leading 2-0 at half time, with Hejitha Almeida, skipper Sachitra Malshan, Ravindu Ranasinghe, and Sharala Goonethilaka scoring a goal each. Nimna Karunaratne scored the solitary goal for Kingswood. 

Dr. Kathab Roshan, who helped to win many district and national trophies for the school between 1991 and 1995, was one of the best centre forwards produced by Royal. After having completed his medical degree in Russia, he died in July 2005 due to cancer while working as a post-intern doctor at the age of 29.