Ananda excel at Carlton Junior Cup Tennis 2014
 

The Carlton Junior Cup 2014 took place at the SLTA, Colombo from October 25 to 28 as the largest event in the history of the sport in Sri Lanka. It hosted over 1,000 youngsters from an array of schools. Ananda College, Colombo bagged the award for the second time during the last three years as the Best Performing School in the boys' category while Visakha Vidyalaya and Ave Maria Convent, Negombo shared the honour as the girls' Best Performing School.

Ananda, a powerhouse of Sri Lanka schools tennis, yet again proved themselves of being worthy by coming out on top. Ananda this year put forth nine teams in all four categories in the annual tournament; Red, Orange and Green Ball (or Tennis 10s) as well as Under-12s.

The Ananda Red Ball teams performed well with both Team 'A' and 'B' reaching through to the knock-out stages of the segment.

Unfortunately Ananda 'B' had to face their 'A' team in the quarter-finals where the B team lost in a close contest.

They went on to beat St. Joseph's College, Negombo 3-0. However, they had to end up as runners-up.

Ananda was unbeaten in the Orange Ball category. In the first round they beat S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia 4-1, Royal 4-1, St. Joseph's, Colombo 5-0, St. Sebastian's 5-0 and Trinity 5-0.

They beat St. Peter's 3-1 in the semi-final. The Orange finals they had to play against one of their arch rivals, Royal, and Ananda emerged victorious there 3-2. In the Green Ball category, Ananda yet again proved themselves too strong as both their teams; Team 'A' and 'B', reached the knock-out stages without much difficulty. However, Team 'B' ended their hopes as they lost the quarter-finals to Royal in a close fight. Despite that Ananda A was not willing to let it hinder their dreams of winning the Carlton Junior Cup as they beat St. Joseph's, Negombo 3-0.

Ananda then had to play Royal in the semis and they ensured that the encounter was sweet revenge as they beat Royal 3-0 to reach the finals. In the finals, Ananda had to face Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala who is renowned for their exceptional performances in the junior levels.

The Anandians cruised to victory beating them 3-1 clinching the Green Ball category for the third consecutive year.

Ananda won the U-12 age category as well. However, their Team 'B' lost their quarter-finals to Maliyadeva 2-1 and A settled for a second runner-up position after a 2-0 victory over Royal.