Six hundred and ten paddlers for Junior TT Nationals

Sanjaya ARIYARATNE

The Junior National Table Tennis Championships gets underway today with 610 paddlers taking part at the S. Thomas’ College, Indoor Stadium, Mount Lavinia and will conclude tomorrow.

This biggest event in the schools Table Tennis calender is being conducted by the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka.

The events to be worked off are boys under-10, 12, 15, 18 singles, girls under-10, 12, 15, 18 singles, boys under-18 doubles, girls under-18 doubles and under-18 mixed doubles.

Most fancied Ishara Madurangi will face a tough challenge from bottom seed Pavithra Gimhani in the under-18 girls event. The former was the winner of this event last year while Ruhansi Wijekoon ended up second.

Top seed Sukitha Wickramanayake was the boys under-18 singles last year while his team mate G.M. Liyanage won the runner-up place. Bottom seed Sahanaka Ganegoda is the other favourite to win the title.

Ruvini Kannangara is the top seed in under-10 girls singles while Yogya Gamage is the bottom seed. Nuwani Navodya is the hot favourite in the under-12 girls with Rasheena Maduwanthi is the bottom seed. Tharindra Weerakoon will have a stiff opposition from Nuwani Navodya in the under-15 girls.

Nuwantha Niroshana is the top seed in under-10 boys singles with Eranga Himal is the bottom seed. Supun Sirisena is the hot favourite to win the title in under-12 boys while Kulanaka Asel is the next player. A.M. Sashiranga and Samitha Abeyratne are the top and bottom seeds respectively in the under-15 boys event.

Mohan Perera, Executive Director, Finance and Guarantee Group, Ceylinco will be the chief guest for the closing ceremony which will take place after the conclusion of the finals on Saturday with Priyantha Dharmasiri Director General Manager (F and G) as the guest of honour.

Meanwhile, the Senior National Table Tennis Tournament will commence on Sunday and will come to an end on Monday.

The prize giving ceremony will be held after the finals with Mervin Jayasinghe, Deputy Chairman, Finance and Guarantee Group, Ceylinco gracing the occasion as the chief guest.