Senior Tennis Nationals from Monday

Bernard Perera

The 93rd National Tennis championship conducted by Sri Lanka Tennis Association will commence on Monday August 18 and conclude on Sept. 7. The tournament will be played at the SLTA courts GreenPath.

This year the championship has attracted over 200 entrants and the battle for national titles are expected to produce top class tennis throughout the tourney.

The organisers have made arrangements once again to bring back the wheel chair tennis for the championship which has received many entries.

Sri Lanka’s top tennis stars Harsha Godamanne the title holder Rajeev Rajapakse, Sanka Athukorale will battle along with eight other rising stars for the Men’s open singles title. The other events to be worked off are open Men’s doubles, Open women’s double, Open mixed double.

The main event the women’s singles will see the contenders for the title Amritha Mutthiah, Nilupul Goonesekera, Jithme Jayawickrema and Roshenka Fernando in fray.

These details were disclosed at a press briefing held at SLTA auditorium yesterday.

The President of the SLTA Janaka Bogollagama said that Laugfs oil company has come forward to sponsor the most prestigious tennis tourney in Sri Lanka. The total cash awards allocated for the championship is Rs. 354,500 said the President.

In addition to the main events there will be Men’s over 35 singles, Doubles over 40 mixed doubles over 45 Men’s Singles and Doubles. Over 55 singles and doubles, over 65 singles and double, wheel chair singles and doubles.

Former national stars who have won the title on many occasions Shalini de Silva and Shanelle Abeysekera and Rohan de Silva and Udith Wickramasinghe have entered this year’s tourney after few years lay off.

This is a good sign for the sport, they are sure to pose a big threat to the young aspiring tennis players, who are looking to make their way to the international scene in the future.

Three weeks of high class tennis is on the card for the lovers of the sports.