The Annual Royal – Thomian Badminton Encounter for the Ranil Wijesekera Trophy concluded for the 7th time, at the S. Thomas’ College Sports Complex, on the 22nd of October, 2014. The game was fiercely contested right throughout the singles and the doubles games, where the crowd witnessed Royal taking home the trophy for the 3rd consecutive time!

Starting off the Badminton action for the day, The U-16 game took place, which saw Royal College winning the games and taking home the shield, which was introduced for the first time, for the U-16 category. The win was a good start for Royal, as it was a confidence booster for the Seniors who were to play not long after the junior game.

Coming from the back of a win, the Senior matches commenced with Harindu Adhikari taking on a S. Thomas’ player in the first single for the day, which saw Harindu falling just short of winning, with S. Thomas’ College winning it 21-8, 21-23, 21-15. Having taken the lead, S. Thomas’ was up against Captain Malith Kariyawasam for the 2nd single, which turned out to be a very close game as well, which saw Malith overcoming his opponent and winning it 21-17, 18-21, 21-13.

With the game on level terms, Chamika Karunaratne represented Royal for the final singles match, which turned out to be a relatively comfortable game, as Chamika managed to win the single 21-13, 21-12, without it having to extend into a 3rd set.

With Royal College leading 2 games to 1, Royal needed to win the next game, which was the first doubles game, to retain the Ranil Wijesekara Trophy. Captain Malith Kariyawasam and Chamika Karunaratne represented Royal for the first doubles game, who went on to win it 21-14, 21-16, thus securing the Ranil Wijesekera Trophy for the 3rd consecutive time, with one more doubles game not played and spared.

A good victory in the field of Badminton for Royal under the Captaincy of Malith Kariyawasam and co. and the form which has prevailed in the past, and the form displayed at this years encounter will undoubtedly continue to improve the standards of Badminton at Royal College in the future.