Five schoolboys from Batticaloa are set to make their presence felt at the Hutch-HNB Clay Court tennis Nationals which got underway at the SLTA Courts at Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha yesterday.
The contingent from Batticaloa includes five junior players who will compete in the Boys’ under-12, 14, 16 and under-18 events in addition to one female competitor who will participate in the women’s Open singles. All players had their preparations for this event at the Batticaloa Tennis Training Center which comes under the supervision of the Lake View Tennis Club and had their coaching under Thinesh Kumar. The squad also includes one junior national player and they are representing different schools, namely St. Michael’s College, Vincent Girls’ High School, St. Cecilia’s Convent, Shivananda Vidyalaya and Hindu College.
In fact, this event, which is one of the biggest All-Island Grade One Ranking Tennis Tournaments in the country conducted by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, has attracted a large number of competitors from the outstations including Kandy, Negombo, Ratnapura, Matale, Kurunegala, Bandarawela and Kalutara. (CGD)