Matale and Mount Thomians inaugurate hockey big match
St. Thomas’ College Matale and S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia will lock horns when they battle for the Eric Hulangamuwa Challenge Shield in their inaugural hockey encounter, which is scheduled to be played on Saturday, September 26, at the Edward Park Hockey ground in Matale.
St. Thomas’ Matale hockey team
Both schools, two of the island’s leading hockey-playing schools, have produced top hockey players who have represented their alma mater and country with distinction. St. Thomas’ Matale had in their ranks famous Wijekoon brothersm Herbert, Ranjith, Douglas and Chandra, M. Fuard, Tissa Etipola, Pius Nanayakkara, Sunil Deegahawatura, Ranjith Alahakoon, C.K. Hulangamuwa, Dr. R. Mahendra, Jayampathi Perera who have donned the Sri Lanka Jersey.
S. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia also produced top players in the calibre of Chandra Shaffter, Dr. Sarath Seneviratne, Anura Tennakoon, S.D. Bandaranayake, Luxman Watawala, Michael Tissera, Orville Abeynayake and his sons Ranil, Ajith and Amitha and K. Abeysekara to mention a few.
S. Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia hockey team
Speaking to the Sunday Times the President of Matale Old Thomians Hockey Association, P. Vasudevan said that this memorable encounter is jointly organised by the Matale Old Thomians Hockey Association and Mt. Lavinia Old Thomians Jockey Union to maintain and strengthen ties between the two schools while maintaining the wellbeing of the sport.
The organisers have planned ti have this fixture as an annual event, which will be hosted by one of the two schools. St. Thomas’ Matale will be hosting the inaugural match. Nations Trust Bank has come forward to sponsor this event. They handed over the sponsorship package to the heads of the two colleges recently at the head office of NTB in Colombo.