Royal prove that it is experience that counts
Royal dominated over Nalanda 21-16 - Pic by Ranjith Perera
In spite of a gallant late rally by Nalanda, Royal proved that their experience was superior during the second Royal-Nalanda annual water polo encounter at the Royal Swimming Complex yesterday.
The lads from Campbell Place went down fighting at 16-21 to the experienced Royal outfit thus giving opportunity for the Reid Avenue school to snatch a 2-0 lead in the series.
Royal with a load of experience dominated play in the first three quarters but a sudden explosion in the final quarter by the Campbell Place school lads made the the game interesting. It was experience that played a major role in Royal’s victory. Royal made full use the Nalanda’s mistakes to score freely.
Nalanda, the new entrants to water polo failed to read the pattern of play of the Royalists but settled down in the final two quarters. Mithila Elukpitiya and Mishan Kottearachchi led the scoring for Royal with four goals each while Dulvin Dahanayake also contributing with three goals to his alma mater. Nalanda’s Arosha Perera staged a lonely battle to score nine out of the 16 goals scored by them.
The game got off with Royal going in to the lead early in the first quarter with some speedy movements 7-3. Royal added six more goals in the second quarter while Nalanda too added three more goals to their tally to end the second quarter quarter 13-6.
Nalanda with a well set plan took to the waters in the third quarter gave the Royalists some anxious moments as they matched the speed and movements of the Royalists. In this evenly matched quarter both Royal and Nalanda added two goals each to their tallies to end the quarter 15-8 in favour of Royal.
Both teams playing their hearts out in the last quarter saw an absorbing display by both schools as Nalanda beating the Royal goal keeper on six occasions while Royal adopting a defensive tactic but made use of the opportunities to add six goals to finish the game as winners 21-16.
In the junior match played earlier Royal scored a close 10-6 victory over Nalanda. The first two quarters saw the scores levelled at 2-2 and 4-4. Royal juniors shot in to the lead to end with a 10-6 win.