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Amritha makes history, qualifies to play in HK

Amritha Muttiah of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya, wrote tennis history by becoming the first Sri Lankan girl to emerge as No. 1 in the ITF under-14 Asian Championships (Group 2) recently.

The 13-year-old HFC schoolgirl produced the best individual performances in two back-to-back tournaments held last week in Yangon, Myanmar to top a list of 26 players from 10 countries. But two other Sri Lankan schoolgirls, Shenani Weerasekera, of Asian International, and Bishop College's Shanalle Abeysekera were less successful, finishing 15th and 18th respectively.

"Our junior girls have been participating in ITF under-14 Asian events for quite some time but this is the first time one of them has finished at No. 1. Obviously we are delighted with Amritha's historic success, especially as it provides further returns on the investments made for junior development,'' said SLTA CEO, Lionel Almeida.

In the first Yangon tournament Amritha Muttiah won the Girls Singles title, but finished third in the second event. Overall, however, her record was the best among the 26 girls - and earns her the right to represent the ITF Girls' team at the under-14 Asian Championship, in Hong Kong in March.

Royal College's Indika Wettasinghe also earned a ticket to Hong Kong by finishing fourth, out of 28 players, in the boys' championships. The top five in the boys and girls events qualify for ITF selection.

Wettasinghe clinched fourth place by being a semifinalist in the first tournament and quarter finalist in the next. But his schoolmate Sheahan Gomes could manage to end up as 21st while St. Peter's schoolboy Tharaka Fernando finished 23rd.

The under-14 championships are an undertaking of the ITF to develop tennis worldwide, especially in developing countries. The January 7-17 events in the capital of old Burma featured players from 10 countries - Myanmar, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan.

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