Jaffna welcomes tennis to heal the wounds of war

Presently with all the resettlement work that is going on to re-build the lives of the people in war-torn Jaffna, Sri Lanka Tennis Association steps up once again to contributing towards bringing peace through sports in the hope of continuing sportsmanship and producing talented players from this region to represent the country someday.

Sri Lanka Tennis Association launched a junior tennis program in 2001 together with the support of Rev. Farther Jero Selvnayagam who is the present Principal of St. Patricks College, Jaffna.

Joseph Sahayraj was appointed as the co-ordinator who did a thorough job was unfortunately unable to continue owing to the situation of the war and the program had to be abandoned.

During this program between 2002 and 2005, the schools in Jaffna did very well in Mini Tennis and it was run in 6 schools. Presently 4 schools are privileged with tennis courts.

It is very unfortunate that Sri Lanka Tennis Association and the co-ordinator could not continue this well initiated program owing to the situation of the war.

With the turn of events in the country and the war ending, Maxwell de Silva, President - Sri Lanka Tennis Association looked towards re-starting this program once again. C Barathiraj Pillai ( Outstation Development officer - SLTA) visited Jaffna for five days in the recent past to explore the keenness in schools and the enthusiasm of the pupils was elating.

With the renewed hope, Sri Lanka Tennis Association will plan on forming a Jaffna Tennis Club in the near future to bring back the tennis playing days in Jaffna which has been very famous in the good old days so as to say.

Jaffna has had 6 tennis clubs which has been destroyed completely with the war other than Vatukottai Jaffna College Staff Tennis Club where it is still functioning in a low scale and they conduct tournaments every year.

During the recent visit to Jaffna, SLTA Out Station Development Officer introduced the popular “Play and Stay” program to the pupils and have decided to further host a “Play and Stay” course in Jaffna for 3 days in December 2010.

Ravindrakumar is appointed as the regional co-ordinator in Jaffna.

The SLTA Development Officer conducted teachers training and had a meeting with 8 schools for training of players.

The President of Sri Lanka Tennis Association is very keen on developing tennis in Jaffna as per the SLTA strategic plan approved by the General Committee and giving the opportunity of playing this prestigious game which is in the high-end of sports and considered very expensive to play.