Wickramaratna beats ’Olympic hope’ Senura to clinch men’s singles title

Krishan Wickramaratna of Old Vidyartha beat Anandian Senura Silva 3-1 to clinch the Men’s Singles title at the annual Maheepala Herath All Island Table Tennis Challenge Trophy Tournament at the Kegalle Municipal Council Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

Wickramaratna won a keenly contested final 12/10, 11/6, 6/11, 11/9 against Silva, a recipient of a sponsorship by Crysbro under the ‘Next Olympic Hope’ programme initiated by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka.

Silva beat Chameera Ginige (University of Sri Jayewardenepura) 3-0 (11/5, 11/6, 12/10) while Wickramaratna defeated Milinda Lakshitha (OMBC Solutions Private Ltd) 3-1 (11/8, 11/9, 14/16, 17/15) in the semi finals. A total of 103 players took part in the Men’s Singles.

The Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) spearheaded by its president Kanaka Herath, State Minister of Plantation, launched an ambitious programme to conduct all 2020 tournaments that could not be held due to the Covid19 epidemic. The minister is also the president of the Kegalle District Table Tennis Association.

The organisers ensured that all safety measures were taken to safeguard the competing players and match officials. In doing so, only the players were permitted to enter the hall and had to maintain a safe distance from each other.

Though the doubles event was originally planned, a decision was taken to remove this event due to close proximity of players.

Minister of Sports Namal Rajapakse made a special visit to the venue to witness the resumption of the game and praised the efforts taken by minister Herath and his team for kick starting the sport in the country. Herath was the chief guest at the finals and distributed certificates to players reaching quarter finals onwards and gave away the challenge trophies to the winner and runner up.

Photo: Men’s singles champion Krishan Wickramaratna receiving his trophy and cash prize from the chief guest Kanaka Herath. Also on the podium are Saman Rathnayake – Commissioner of Elections, Sameera Perera – Vice President Kegalle TTA and Member of the Municipal Council, Chandana Srinath – Secretary TTASL, and Jagath Jayasinghe – Chairman, Kegalle Provincial Council.