Paddler Chalitha Ranjana does Sri Lanka proud

Sampath Bandara

Chalitha Ranjana, Sri Lanka’s current Table Tennis National Champion won four medals in the South Asian Games which was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh recently.

Chalitha bagged the most number of medals along with Tharindra Weerakoon in the South Asian Games recently.

He won the individual title for Bronze Medal, Mixed Doubles Bronze Medal, Men’s Doubles Bronze Medal and team event Silver Medal. Chalitha defeated Nepal’s Ajay Sathkar by 3-0 in the Men’s quarter-final match and displayed his excellent fighting spirit.

K.S.T. Chalitha Ranjana started playing table tennis at the age of seven years under the guidance of his uncle veteran coach Anura Lal.

He won his first ever Table Tennis title at the Under 9 Junior National Tournament held at Kandy.

Then step by step he was able to reach great heights as a ranked number one player of all age categories under 9, 11, 13,15,17 and 19 and also clinched junior national titles of all age categories. He bagged the junior national championship in the year 1996.

In the year 2000 Chalitha was adjudged the National Champion, beating Thilina Piyadasa. He defeated top ranked player Thilina Piyadasa in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2009.

Chalitha Ranjana was four times national champion. He is also the third highest national title winner in the Sri Lanka’s Table Tennis history, after Thilina Piyadasa (eight times) and Jothipala Samaraweera (five times).

He is the only men’s national champion from Southern Province. He was ranked as the number one player according to eleven association’s ranking tournaments and open men’s categories in the year 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and adjudged as the best player of the year in 2007 and 2008.

He bagged a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Championship which was held in Malaysia in 2004. This can be described as the greatest achievement by a Sri Lankan in Sri Lankan Table Tennis history.

Chalitha has won nearly 300 local ranking tournaments. He is a proud product of Sri Devananda College, Ambalangoda. He is a table tennis superstar from the Southern Coastal town of Ambalangoda which is known as the cradle of table tennis in Sri Lanka.

Chalitha joined the Citi Bank and represented the bank in several tournaments and won many mercantile titles for Citi Bank and in the year 2005 he joined Seylan Bank.

He paved the way for Seylan Bank team to be adjudged the best team in the year 2007 and also won the Mercantile Championship in consecutive years (2005 to 2008).

Chalitha Ranjana was appointed as captain of Sri Lanka National Team in the year 2004 for Commonwealth Championship in Malaysia and World Table Tennis Championship in China (2008).

He paid a glowing tribute to Ajitha Pasqual, General Manager of Seylan Bank. President of Sports Club Asanga Nanayakkara, Uditha Kaluarachchi brother Lakshan Harshana and sponsors ‘NITTAKU’ brand which sponsored him for more than ten years.

Chalitha Ranjana can be described as one of the best Table Tennis players produced by Sri Lanka.