TT gets boost in North and East

Anuradha Abeysekera

Ping Pong Academy in collaboration with the Jaffna and Vavuniya District TT Associations conducted the Jaffna / Vavuniya District and Northern and Eastern Provinces Table Tennis Championships at the Vavuniya badminton courts recently. The tournaments were sponsored by Abans, who has been a keen supporter of the the sport in the region.

It is for the first time that a tournament of this magnitude was held in Vavuniya where 140 paddlers took part from both districts.

The two-day event saw district championships for Jaffna and Vavunia separately worked off on the opening day and the qualified players from both districts vied for honours in the Provincial tournament following day at the same venue.

The Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) Chief Coordinating Officer Chandana Perera said that the two championships were held at the same venue for the convenience of players as they did not have to travel far, spending lot of money for the Provincial tournament.

Thanks to the tremendous hard work of Northern and Eastern coaches, TT has become one of the most popular sports among youth in the region. Only 70 players took part in the very first TT championship held in Vavuniya earlier and the second TT Championships saw 100 players participating. This year it has grown to a grater number of 140 entries and without doubt more than 200 participants will take part in the Northern and Eastern Provinces Table Tennis Championships in 2013.

TTASL officials have observed that some of the junior players in this region can come up to the national level, if necessary facilities are provided. Despite the great enthusiasm in players they are continuing the sport with greatest difficulties due to lack of materialistic needs. Some players have played without proper shoes while some did not have shoes at all. The conditions of tables and racquets are far beyond the proper standard.

More than 90% of the participants have never been to Colombo and TTASL hopes to conduct tournament for Northern and Eastern players in Colombo on their request.

P N Pestonjee the Senior Director of Abans and former National TT player is very keen on the betterment of TT in this war affected area and doing a great job by fostering tournaments and training programmes from a long time. Abans has sponsored Northern and Eastern Provinces Table Tennis Championships consecutively for the last three years. TTASL is making plans to conduct a Novices TT Championship next year in Colombo for North- East players and seek support from Abans and TT lovers from across the globe to make it a reality. transport, food and accommodation are the main areas TTASL will need help to bring down North and East players to Colombo.

Chandana Perera further said that they have identified some crucial necessities to be fulfilled in order to uplift the sport in this part of the country and any organization or individual can support this task. Racquets, rubbers, balls, tables, T shirts, shorts, track kits, shoes can be donated to these players and used items also accepted. All financial assistance can be made through TTASL (contact numbers are 0777751345/ 0714472400, email - [email protected])