No easy passage for Royal against unbeaten Gateway
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The 3rd Annual Basketball (BB) encounter between Royal College and Gateway College for the Alles-Gunasekera Trophy will be played at the Gateway College BB Courts, Rajagiriya, under floodlights on September 22.
With the series tally at 1-1, this year’s clash is expected to be a keen tussle. Going by the two encounters that went down to the wire, this annual encounter has already created a ‘Big Match’ atmosphere.
An Under (U)-15 match and an invitation Girls Schools match between Gateway College and Devi Balika Vidyalaya which precedes the all important U-19 clash, will add to the excitement. The day’s proceedings will start at 3.00pm.
Venuja Gamlath will lead Royal while Chevaan De Costa will lead Gateway. Royal looks a well coordinated outfit, as they have been playing together from U-15 days, with some of them playing for the National U-18 3×3 Youth BB team.
Gateway are All Island U-15 Champions, while the young U-19 Gateway team is an unbeaten outfit. For the record, both schools have been champions at the National Schools Championship.
This annual encounter is played for the ‘Alles-Gunasekera’ Cup named after two key personalities from the two schools. The late R.I.T. Alles was a teacher at Royal College for over 10 years. He was the founder Principal of Gateway College and DS Senanayake College. The late Christie Gunasekera, a Royalist himself, was a longstanding Vice Principal of Royal College and former President of the Sri Lanka Schools Basketball Association. He was respected for his unrelenting commitment to uplift discipline and standards at Royal College during his days.