Ruvini - a table tennis star in the making

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy sports correspondent

Junior national table tennis champion fourteen year old Ruvini Kannangara of Musaeus College, Colombo is one of the most promising paddlers in the local table tennis scene.

She has a junior ranking of number one at present and all along she has displayed excellent fighting qualities coupled with court craft and this enabled her to win the junior national title at the age of 13 in 2010.

Her success record is at the age of nine she was number one in the under 10 age group and won the junior national title.

She continuing her winning trend and in 2009 being ranked number one in the under 12 age group she won the junior national title.

She was once again ranked number one in the under 15 age group in 2011 and she went on to win the junior national championship for girls in 2010 and 2011.

This year she was ranked number one in the under 15 and under 18 age groups. Though she lost to bottom seed Umaya Tharakie in the under 15 finals this year she fought back to win the under 18 which is the Junior National Title by defeating Erandi Warusawitharna of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda.

It must be recalled that Erandi Warusawitharna was runner up at the Senior National Championship this year and defeating a more experienced player is indeed creditable.

This Junior National Championship finals brought the best in Ruvini Kannangara and displayed a lot of grit and determination. She started off losing the first set 10/12, won the second set 11/7 to keep herself in contention. The third set saw her down to a 8/11 defeat but she did not despair or throw in the towel. She fought back to win the fourth set 11/8 which was the turning point with the scores equal. The final set saw displaying brilliance by putting in a great effort to vanquish her opponent by the comfortable margin of 11/4 which was also score in this match.

She performed well in the 37th National Sports Festival and though tender in age she won the 'Best Player'. Her success brought her junior national representation as she represented Sri Lanka at the 17th Asian Junior National Table Tennis Championship held in New Delhi.

Her best performance overseas was at the International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF) Premium Global Junior Circuit Championship held in India when she won the medal in the under 15 team event and also became the champion in the Consolation event.

Fourteen year old Ruvini Kannangara has a bright future ahead of her and she is grateful to her school principal and her coach for giving her all the guidance. Weapons in her armoury of play is her ability to read her opponents ploy, and then outwit her with a tricky push or drop and going back for the smash.

She has four more years in age to participate in the Junior National Championship and could well give the others in contention a torrid time.