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Chrys Gunaratne Memorial Open TT:
Air Force's Ishara and Milinda fly high
Anuradha Abeysekera
Sri Lanka Air Force flew high at the Chrys Gunaratne Memorial Open
Table Tennis Championship wrapping up both men's and women's singles
titles. The prominent all island ranking tournament saw most of
country's top paddlers vying for honours and was conducted by the Table
Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) at the S Thomas's Indoor
Stadium, Mount Lavinia recently.
Ishara Madyrangi and Milinda Lakshitha, both from the SL Ari Force
won singles titles beating Nuwani Navodya of Dharmasoka College,
Ambalangoda (14/12, 07/11, 08/11, 11/05, 11/07, 11/06) and Indika Prasad
of SL Navy (12/10, 11/09, 11/01, 11/09) in the women's and men's singles
finals.
Ishara defeated emerging school star Nuwani Navodya in her final
quest for the women's singles crown showcasing an exciting game of TT
where the game scaled for each players' favour at different levels.
After winning the first set following a close fight (14-12) Ishara faced
a shocking setback in next two sets due to superb skills displayed by
the school girl Nuwani (7-11, 8-11). Much experienced Ishara came
strongly in the third set to overcome Nuwani with a considerable margin
(11-5) and continued her winning streak in the following two sets to
grab the title (11-7, 11-6).
Air-man Milinda Lakshitha had less troubles in beating sailor Indika
Prasad to bring home the men's singles crown. Milinda proved his
excellence with the racket by winning the final in easy straight sets.
Meanwhile the under-18 boys' singles title went on to Udaya
Ranasinghe of Vidyartha College, Kandy who defeated his school-mate
Krishan Wickramarathne in the final (11/07, 11/04, 06/11, 11/09). Girls'
under-18 singles final saw another same school affair where two girls
from Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda fought for supremacy. Erandi
Warusavithana bagged the crown after a tense contest against Umaya
Tharakie (07/11, 11/08, 08/11, 13/11, 11/02).
Abans (pvt) Ltd, a well known supporter of table tennis in Sri Lanka
sponsored the tournament.
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