Lankan veteran TT players excel in Stockholm

Leslie FERNANDO

Six Sri Lankan veteran table tennis players Dr. G.N.Lucas, M.M.M. Laffeer, Viraj de Silva, Nilmini Swarnakanthi, Ama Suraweera and Ira Ruwanpathirana participated in the Stockholm 2010 Veteran Open Table Tennis Tournament conducted by the Stockholm Table Tennis Federation recently.

They participated in the men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles and the handicap singles. A total of 192 players participated in the tournament including players from Russia, Norway, Sweden and Sri Lanka.

Men's singles

The men's singles was played in the age groups 40-49, 50-59,60-64,65-69,70-74 and 75-79 in groups of four on a round robin basis. The first two in each group went through to the knockout stage A and the other two to the knockout stage B.

Playing in the 65-69 year age group Dr. G.N.Lucas won all three matches in the round robin stage and went through to the knockout stage A. In the knockout stage A he advanced to the semifinals where he lost to a Swedish player by 3 sets to 2.

Playing in the 60-64 year age group M.M.M.Laffeer won two out of three matches in the round robin stage and went through to the knockout stage A.In the knockout stage A he advanced to the semifinals where he lost to a Swedish player by 3 sets to 1.

The men's doubles was played in the age groups 40-49,50-59,60-69 and 70-79 in groups of 4 or 5 on a round robin basis.

The first two in each group went through to the knockout stage A and the others to the knockout stage B. Playing in the 60-69 age group in a group of 5 on a round robin basis, Dr. G.N. Lucas and M.M.M. Laffeer won three out of four matches but two other pairs also won a similar number of matches and Lucas and Laffeer were eliminated from the knockout stage A on the number of sets won.

Lack of entries

Due to the lack of sufficient entries the women's singles and doubles were played as open events. Ira Ruwanpathirana reached the semifinals of the open Women's Singles and lost to a Swedish player in three straight sets.

The handicap singles was a novel event where a handicap score (from 1-20) was assigned to each participating player by the organizer based on results, age and ranking.

Starting score

The starting score in each set was determined by the difference in the handicap scores of the two players.

It was open to all players, male and female who participated in the singles or doubles. A total of 56 players participated in this event. This was again played in groups of four on round robin basis with the first two in each group going through to the knockout stage A and others to the knockout stage B.

In the round robin stage Dr. G.N. Lucas won two out of three matches and went through to knockout stage A. M.M.M. Laffeer won one out of three matches in the round robin stage and went through to knockout stage B. In the knockout stage A, Dr. G.N. Lucas went on to reach the semifinals, in the process eliminating the bottom seed.

Semifinals

In the semifinals he met a Swedish player and lost in three straight sets. In the knockout stage B Laffeer reached the finals and lost to a Swedish player by three sets to two.

In this tournament no medals were awarded. However, semifinals are the equivalent of bronze medals.

Thus the Sri Lankan Veteran Table Tennis Players won the equivalent of 4 bronze medals. Cash prizes were awarded in the age group events to the winner and runner up in knockout stage A and winner of knockout stage B.

Thus semifinalists did not receive any cash awards.

In the handicap event cash prizes were given to the winner, runner up and semifinalists in knockout stage A and winner and runner up in knockout stage B. Thus Dr. G.N. Lucas received a cash award of 1000 SEK (Rs. 15,000) whilst M.M.M. Laffeer received a cash award of 500 SEK (Rs. 7,500).