Tennis tourney in memory of Bogollagama

Staying in line with the SLTA's objective in developing outstation tennis in Sri Lanka, the Kurunegala Tennis Club took the opportunity to conduct a ranking tournament from December 9 to 14 which will be held yearly in memory of late Janaka Bogollagama who was the past president of KTC and also, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.

Kurunegala Tennis Club (KTC) is one of the oldest Tennis Clubs in Sri Lanka and still continuing to function as a tennis playing club which will be celebrating its 135th year since its inception in 1918.

In 2002 the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) introduced mini tennis to Kurunegala Tennis Club aiming to develop the sport at a professional level in the Kurunegala region as none of the schools in the area had facilities for Tennis. However, in 2007 with the assistance of the SLTA Maliyadeva College constructed its tennis courts.

Janaka Bogollagama's aim during his tenure as the President of SLTA was to improve the sport in outstation areas and was the key person who introduced junior tennis to Kurunegala while he was the president of the KTC. Janaka Bogollagama was a junior national champion during teenage years while schooling at Ananda College, Colombo.

There were a large number of participants travelling from areas as far as Jaffna, Batticaloa, Bandarawela, Matale, Kandy, Negombo, Kandana and Colombo in order to take part in the tournament.

Currently the Under 8 and 10 girls and boys events have been concluded.

Neyara Dulani Weerawansa beat Navodi Fernando 4/2 in Under 8 Girls Finals and Rakesh Ratnasingham beat Dimuth Weerasinghe 4/1 in Under 8 Boys Finals.

Nimmie Bernadette beat Prabuddhu Perera 9/7 in Under 10 Girls Finals. Under 12 and 14 events are currently under way.