14-year olds in Sri Lanka team | Sunday Observer

14-year olds in Sri Lanka team

20 October, 2019
Bimandi  Bandara and Senura Silva
Bimandi Bandara and Senura Silva

Two newcomers Senura Silva and Bimandi Bandara have been selected to the Sri Lanka table tennis team to take part in the forthcoming South Asian Games in Nepal in December.

Senura from Ananda College and Bimandi from Hillwood College Kandy are both 14 years of age and performed well during the trials to select the team last week at the Mercantile badminton courts.

Ten men and ten women took part in the trials and based on the performances after playing one another, five men and five women were selected.

Eighty percent of the selections was based on winning matches and 20 percent on their present rankings.

Senura Silva the elder son of former National champions Deepika Rodrigo and Indika Prasad performed well at recent tournaments to improve his ranking and won 12 matches out of 18 at the trials while Bimandi played with a lot of confidence in the trials second only to the experienced Ishara Madurangi who is named the captain of the women’s team. Ishara recorded 15 wins at the trials while Bimandi recorded 14 wins. Udaya Ranasinghe of Old Vidyartha TT Club won 15 matches out of 18 while Nirmala Jayasinghe won 13 matches, Krishan Wickramaratne 12 matches and Chameera Ginige 11 matches to earn their passages in the men’s team. Erandi Warusawithna won 11 matches, Illa Chitty from Ladies College and Hansani Piyumila won 10 matches each to make up the women’s team. However the most experienced player Rohan Sirisena who was a team member at the South Asian Games from 1999 failed to secure a slot as he finished in seventh place at the trials.

Supuna Warusawithne, Milinda Lakshitha, Dinesh Kavishka, Kasuni Pitigala, Muthumali Priyadharshani, Tahnushi Rodrigo, Jithara Warnakulasuriya and DH Kolombage were the other players who took part in the trials.

Sri Lanka men’s team: Udaya Ranasinghe (Old Vidyartha TTSC), Nirmala Jayasinghe (MAS Intimate), Krishan Wickramaratne (Old Vidyartha TTSC ), Chameera Ginige (Sri Jayawardenapura University), Senura Silva (Ananda College)

Sri Lanka women’s team: Ishara Madurangi (Port Authority), Bimandi Bandara (Hillwood Kandy), Erandi Warusawithna (Army ), Illa Chitty (Ladies College ) Hansani Piyumila (Vishaka Vidyalaya)

Comments