Walagampola - Sri Lanka's best TT prospect

Leslie Fernando

Eighteen-year-old Buddhika Prabha Walagampola of Royal College is the best prospect that Sri Lanka has in the ping-pong.

This was confirmed when he won the national Men's Singles crown for the first time in his brief but promising career.

On his way to the final he beat former national champion K.S.T. Chalitha in four sets in the preliminary rounds and took the crown by beating his chief rival Indika Prasad, six times national champion in four sets.

That victory was described by Buddhika as: "One I value most more than representing my country. It has been my life's ambition to win the national men's singles title and for achieving it I am greatly indebted to my coach and my parents who extended fullest support.

'NH' one of the best TT players of the yesteryear who has produced several national players plays a vital role in his success by noting down his weakness and mistakes during a match. These notes 'NH' studies analyses and puts Buddhika on the right track. What has given Buddhika an edge over his opponents as he is a fast attacking player with terrific forehand top spin drive and back hand drive. Mainly he scores with his forehand top spin drive which he does on both flanks with a high kick.

He took to the game at the age of 8 years at Royal and represented his country at the age of 18 at the South Asian Junior TT Championships held in Pakistan this year. He was the captain of the team and partnering Shanaka Ganegoda won the Silver medal in the Doubles even.

Sri Lanka also won a silver medal in the team championship. At the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Pune, India, Buddhika entered men's singles quarter final defeating the Singapore ranked number two player Lim Chin 3-2.

Buddhika bagged his first open singles title in the Schools TT championship in 2006. He has been the schools under-12, under-15, under-17 champion. Won the Junior National singles title in 2005 and 2006 and he was ranked number one player. Buddhika has helped the Royal to win the under-19 Schools TT Championship with an unbeaten record.

Buddhika who is making tremendous progress in table tennis is a 'A' Level Student and he will concentrate on his studies as well. His main ambition is to train hard and bring honour to the country at international level. He is bristling with talent and with his dedication he is certain to go places. Buddhika should be included to the National TT pool.

As there are no proper qualified national table tennis coaches, the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka should at least pick four best junior paddlers and send them to Peking Physical Culture Institution, Beijing, China for at least six months training to improve their playing skills. Moreover the junior players should be offered an opportunity to play in Indian Circuit Tournaments regularly.

Most of the former top table tennis players N.H. Perera, Jothipala Samaraweera, Angelo Santiago, Lalith Priyantha, Annesly Gomes, Ashok Melvani, Dr. Nimal Lucas, Ramesh Dharmadasa, Shabbir Hussain to name a few have had foreign training under top Japanese or Chinese coaches.

There is always a source of encouragement behind any successful sportsman. For Buddhika that encouragement has come from Royal College Principal, Prefect of Games, Master in Charge table tennis, coach N.H. Perera and his parents.