Dr. Nimal Lucas does Sri Lanka proud at New Zealand Masters Games

Sanjaya ARIYARATNE

MASTERS GAMES: The former national table tennis champion Dr. Nimal Lucas brought honour and fame to Sri Lanka by winning six medals at the New Zealand Masters Games Table Tennis Championships held in Wanganui, New Zealand recently.

He combined with teammate S. S. de Silva and Mohommed Lafeer and won the gold medal in the over 55 team event. Lucas partnered by R. A. Wimalasena also won a silver medal in the over 55 men’s doubles event.

He then clinched a bronze medal in the over 65 men’s doubles event and another two bronze medals in the over 65 and over 35 mixed double events. Lucas won his other bronze medal in the over 35 men’s singles event.

During his Table Tennis career he has earned more achievements. In 1965, he captained the University team

 which emerged champions at the inaugural All Island Inter Club League tournament conducted by the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka.

During the same year he put up a better performance to beat the top seed Pakistan national champion to win the open men’s singles title at the YMCA Open Table Tennis championships.

In the same year he secured the national singles runner-up title and he was named as the number one ranked paddler in Sri Lanka where he won seven open tournaments consecutively.

In 1965 he also was adjudged the ‘Most Outstanding Sportsman of the Year’ by the University of Ceylon for his excellent career in sports.

Between the period 1966 to 1971 he captained the Sri Lanka National Table Tennis team. During this period he participated in several tourneys overseas while making his presence felt.

In 1966 he created a major upset at the GANEFO Games held in Cambodia when he beat the third seed Yang Yang Chor Nam also from Cambodia.

In 1967 Lucas, partnered by P. V. Gopalakrishnan won the All India Men’s double title. In 1968 Lucas came up with a fine performance to beat the Russian ranked number two three times at the tournaments held in Sri Lanka.

In 1970 he made a valuable contribution for Sri Lanka by guiding them to victory over the strong Madras team by five matches to four. In 1971 he won several matches against the visiting Chinese team.

Lucas defended his singles title for five consecutive years at the Government Services Table Tennis championship from 1966 to 1971.

In 1984 he simultaneously clinched the State Services men’s singles and Open Veteran’s Singles Table Tennis titles.

From 2004 to 2006, he dominated the veteran table tennis scene by winning several over 40 single events and being a member of the veterans teams where they won several titles.

In 2004 he participated in the World Veterans Table Tennis championships which was held in Yokohama, Japan.

In July 2005 Lucas partnered by Mohamed Lafeer won the over 55 men’s doubles silver medal at the World Masters games Table Tennis championships held in Edmonton, Canada.

He also won a bronze medal in the men’s singles over 50 category at the South African Masters Table Tennis tournament which was concluded in Nelson Mandela Bay in April last year.