Sri Lanka under 15 and under 19 pools are already formed to select players of the South Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships which scheduled to be held from May 26-29 at Municipality Indoor Stadium, Kandy.
According to the Chairman Organising Committee of this South Asian Youth TT Championship Chandana Perera, eight players (four boys and four girls) are in under 15 pool while five boys and girls each for under 19 pool are presently training in Kandy focusing Asian Youth TT championship.
“The top ranking players of each category will be selected for the pool based on Their performance and finally it will pruned down to four pool players for each category for the main tournament and this is going to be good exposure for the young Sri Lankan paddlers,” added Chandana Perera.
Chandana Perera further added former Royal TT player Samuditha Ishan who is now leading businessman and an engineer came forward to give big support and he has given Rs. eight million sponsorship and “YINHE” has been named official equipment partner and STAG came forward as the official clothing partner for this event. We already invited Sports Minister Harin Fernando and Education Minister Susil Premjayantha to be the chief guests,” he said.
Five countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives have confirmed their participation and Bhutan is the only South Asian country not confirmed yet. The tournament will showcase cream of South Asian Youth paddlers and we have confirmed accomodation facilities and other facilities for participating teams, added Chairman Organising Committee.
“TTASL headed by Rahal Abeyratne and Schools TT Association have organised this tournament with the support of South Asian TT Federation and we still need financial support and expected to get from Sports Ministry as well as sponsors from Mercantile sector”.
“This is a very rare oppertunity for Sri Lanka and after laps of seven years we are conducting this type of a tournament,” said Chandana Perera. Sabaragamuwa University IT students give good support to develop technical side including official web site and other technical facilities to make the event a success.
Following are the Sri Lanka under 15 and under 19 pool for the South Asian Youth TT championship.
Under 15 girls team: Yoshini Jayawardene (Mahamaya Kandy) ,Muthuli Sahanya (Southland’s Galle) Samindi Weerasooriya (Good Shepherd Convent), Mekalya Fernando (Elizabeth Moir School)
Under 15 boys team: Akain Bojith (Dharmasoka), Naviru Nethsitha (Dharmasoka) Agasthya Ananditha (Bond International School) Senul Ratnayake (Dharmaraja)
Under 19 girls team: Bimandee Bandara (Hillwood College Kandy) Tamadi Kavindya (Sri Devananda Ambalangoda) Divya Dharani (Dharmasoka), Lesanya Sethumdee (Dharmasoka), Sandithi Jayasinghe (Museaus)
Under 19 boys team: Shafiullah Akram (Trinity), Janitha Batugedera (Royal), Diran Hamer (Royal), Saluka Premachamdra (Ananda,Colombo), Vinuka Gunawardena (Royal)
Dhammika Ratnaweera