By: Dinith Pathiraja, SPC Coach
St. Peter’s college, Colombo 4 had another extremely successful year in 2013 continuing their golden era in the sport of tennis which the College has been enjoying in the recent past. Since the sport recommenced at St. Peter’s College in January 1998, it has been an unparalleled success story in this sport for the Peterites.
St. Peter’s College won the All Island Inter-schools Tennis Championship’s overall trophy for the 6th time in 7 years, regaining it after they had lost it in 2012, after winning it for 5 consecutive years from 2007-11. Thus in the recent Inter-school tennis history, St. Peter’s have won it 7 times in 9 years. This is a great achievement considering the tough competition which is prevalent in the schools tennis. This domination of one sport by one school has not been seen in any sport in the recent past because of the depth of competition among the schools in sports. This year the overall trophy was decided over 3 age groups, namely the Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 championships.
The main architects behind this success are Rector Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel who has always been there for the tennis team of St. Peter’s and Sports Coordinator Rev. Fr. Lakmin Silva. The quiet but effective work of their Master-in-charge Bernard Jesuthasan, supported by the assistant coaches P. Thizant and Delwar Hossain, the Peterites were fortunate to retain the schools’ tennis crown.
Their long-standing coach Dinith Pathiraja is the main architect of this success. He has been at St. Peter’s College since the inauguration of their tennis programme, in January 1998. And for the past 16 years, his vision, commitment and dedication towards improving tennis in every age category is exemplary. By producing so many National champions, winners of age categories, Sri Lanka players and performers at the international level, he has shown that he has got the right formula and system working for him. St. Peter’s College owes much to their long-serving coach for the overwhelming success of Peterite tennis. (RSS)
