Father and daughter for World Racketion C'ships

K.A. Perera, Wadduwa special correspondent

Dharsana Fernando, former Sri Lankan badminton player and his daughter Piumika who new live in Canada will take part in the World Racketion Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands from December 27-31.

"We are very excited about this event, said Dharshana and Puimika as this is a unique championship and we happen to play all four sports at a competitive level and hence will be very competitive in this event.

There will be about 400 participants in this event from over 30 countries.

The sports is dominated by the EU Nations, but other countries too are fast improving, said Dharsana who is a professional Master Badminton Player.

When asked what Recketion is all about, Dharsana said that Racketion like in Triathlon or Decathlon is a combination of individual sports, table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis.

A racketion match contains four sets, one in sport. Each set played to 21 points, much like in table tennis and badminton, but the total winner of a racketion match is not the one that wins most sets, but one who scores the most points in total.

The winner is the best all round racket player.

Racketion is a combination of the four racket sports as it has developed into a sport. Dharsana is a professional player and a national badminton coach in Canada.

He was a national player in Sri Lanka for several years during the 1970s and 1980s. He also participated at the World Masters Games in Edmonton in 2005 and is training for the 2009 World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia.

In addition he is a squash player in Brampton, where he plays at professional level. He also plays competitive table tennis and plays recreational tennis. He also runs a youth badminton coaching academy in Brampton, Ontario.

Piumika is the Number One Tennis player in her school (Tumer Fenton Secondary School, Bramption) and became the first runner-up in the Ropssaa (Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association).

In Badminton she is the top player in her school and won the title of Open Ropssaa Champion and qualified to represent Peel Region of OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association). She is also a part time badminton instructor at Fernando's Youth Badminton Academy.

She plays Peel Region Level Competitive Table Tennis and won the Junior Ropssaa Championship. She also plays recreational squash.

"As we both train and compete on regular basis, we feel that we can be very competitive at this novel sport Racketion World Championship, said 16 year old Piumika who is determined to prove herself at international level.

She said that she has been training for more than 6 months for this event and said that she follows in her dad's footsteps. My dad is a good coach and he plays pretty well for his age.

We are going to acquire lots of knowledge and experience as this is the first time we are participating in this sport. Furthermore the lessons we learn at the championships will be passed onto the community through Fernando's Youth Badminton Academy outreach programme said Dharsana Fernando.

Finally Dharsana said that he is very grateful to the business community headed by Nivantha de Silva of Trico International.

We obtained sponsorship for this event from the business community and they came forward to lend their support for us to participate in the championship.

We are happy to mention that we had a positive response and we are very grateful to the following sponsors who contributed generously and provided us the opportunity to participate at this year's World Championships.

Bobby S. Wije, CEO of Build Homes Group Inc. Bramption (Raitovs Century 21) provided us with a 'Silver' sponsorship package and finally Raj Subrayam, CEO of Standard Mortgages Inc. who gave us a "Bronze" package.