Archives

by Chris Dhambarage

Former President of the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka Lalith Priyantha has decided to quit from all administrative affairs after the forthcoming annual general meeting on March 27.

Lalith Priyantha who is the present International and Media co ordinating officer of the TTASL will not contest at the AGM and is hoping to concentrate more on his coaching and family commitments. Lalith Priyantha said that many of his personal matters were severely neglected due to the busy schedule of the TTASL and now he could spare more time with his family.

In fact his wife Asokamala Tennekoon who created history being elected as the first woman secretary of the TTASL last year will not be contesting at the AGM. But Lalith Priyantha is leaving the scene with a high morale having combined two rival parties together after a lapse of more than two years. There was one person who really worked hard to unite these two parties and Lalith Priyantha should be pleased with the present outcome.

There will be no contest at this year's annual general meeting probably for the first time and even the different committee members will be uncontested. This is a tremendous boost for the development and promotion of the game which seem to be losing its interest among the young and the old. Gone are the days where there were massive crowds to witness a national final or any other major ranking tournament.

Lalith Priyantha believes that the new office-bearers who would takeover the reigns on March 27 has a daunting task ahead of them to rebuild their image and bring back the game back to its usual place. Lalith Priyantha was instrumental in successfully solving a controversial issue regarding the eligibility date of the junior players with the assistance of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

The two member committee comprising of Milton Amarasinghe Director General Sports and Yogananda Wijesundera Chairman Sports School along with the two rival parties agreed to have January 1 as the cut off date for all junior tournaments from 2002. Earlier the TTASL had several difficulties in conducting their junior tournaments as the cut off date was considered as July 1 by a certain group comprising of former officials of the TTASL.

This issue was raging since 1999 and finally the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Johnston Fernando appointed a two member committee to look into the matter and find a solution. The Media co ordinator of the TTASL Lalith Priyantha thanked the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Johnston Fernando for settling this issue as the new office-bearers could now conduct all their junior tournaments smoothly.

Lalith Priyantha said that the annual general meeting of the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka will be held on March 27 at the Ministry of Sports. He said that this year's AGM would be uncontested as the two main rival sections have agreed to work in union for the development of the game.

The present vice president of the TTASL P. D. Ratnasiri will be the head of the association with former president of the TTASL and the present secretary of the Western Province Table Tennis Association Chandana Perera taking over the post of secretary. Lalith Priyantha said that the Director Sports Milton Amarasinghe has already welcomed this decision and has promised to grant all assistance for the promotion of the game.

The former national champion and former Sri Lanka team captain said that during his term as President of the TTASL the game gained rapid momentum in the outstations following a series of coaching camps in Dambulla, Kurunegala, Kandy, Mathugama and Wadduwa. The TTASL also organised and conducted several ranking tournaments with the assistance of the National Savings Bank the Principal sponsor of table tennis in Sri Lanka.

In addition the TTASL successfully conducted the Olympic Solidarity Course in collaboration with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) with former World champion Chi Entino as the course director. This was in fact the first time that the TTASL had got down the services of a former World Champion and several players, coaches, administrators and officials were really benefitted by his guidance.

In the International scene too Sri Lanka made steady progress and the men's team finished 52nd out of 87 countries at the World Championships in Malaysia. In addition the Sri Lanka men's team finished among the top 11 nations for the first time at the Asian Championships held in Doha, Qatar. The Sri Lanka men's and women's teams also participated in the Commonwealth Games, SAARC Championships, and Junior Asian Championships.

The TTASL also received a tremendous boost through the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) who presented three tables each worth Rs. 75,000. This presentation was made by Lilamani de Soysa a former Sri Lanka national champion who is currently associated with the ITTF as a project co-ordinator.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager