Tennis exponent

by Lakmal Welabada

Our profile is focused on a young man who has brought fame and pride to our Island. He is Asith Attygala, an internationally qualified Tennis Referee. Although he is just 29 years old, Asith has reached the peak of success. Here is his story.

"I am an Anandian," he begins. We put it down to 'another proud Anandian' I assume he deserves it. "First I went to Nalanda upto grade 5 so that school should also get the credit," he smiles.

The school Tennis court was what enticed little Asith when he entered Ananda College. In the very first month at school, Asith began playing Tennis. And so it was since 1990.

He won school colours for four years, and then the National School Colours in 1997. Although he tried Athletics, he was drawn to Tennis. He was rated number two in Sri Lanka.

Asith was not only sports oriented, but also outshone in leadership management. He chaired the organising committee of the Ananda-Nalanda cricket encounter for many years. And won the Most Outstanding Anandian award in 1997, while being the Deputy Head Prefect of the school.

Asith was still a 19-year-old school boy, when he became the Level-I coach after getting through the International Tennis Federation (ITF) course conducted in Sri Lanka. Along with that he became the first ever young SLTA coach of the country. And then, as he finished his A/Ls which he did in Commerce subjects he was offered a contract in the Maldives to coach the Maldivian Junior National Tennis Team.

His one-year and three-month coaching for more than 20 odd girls and boys was not in vain. One of the girls won the under-16 Tennis championship in the tournament held in Sri Lanka in 1998. And since it was the first ever overseas sport championship won by the Maldives, it made a mark in Maldivian history.

The team and the young coach (most probably one among world's youngest coaches) was welcomed at the President's residence by the Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. And it was an eye opener for girls' tennis in Sri Lanka as well.

While qualifying as a coach, Asith qualified in the first batch of umpires called the White Batch in 1997. He was still a school boy, but along with that became apparently among the youngest Tennis umpires in the world by that time.

Just before he entered University of Colombo for his Bachelor of Commerce degree he got his first overseas assignment as an umpire for the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1998. He continued his Tennis career successfully together with his higher studies and passed out as a B.Com. graduate in 2003.

Since the Bangkok assignment, Asith has been doing a lot of umpiring in over 25-30 countries including all the continents. While carrying on with coaching he qualified step by step. In 2001 he qualified in the Level-2, Bronze Badge by sitting for the final exam of the field of umpiring.

The next higher promotions are given by evaluating one's experience and capabilities in various categories like the fully fledged knowledge of the sport along with decision-making and leadership capacities in the Tennis field.

Asith got through the Silver Badge, Level-3 Referee School standard in 2003. In January this year he was promoted to the Silver Badge Chair Umpire. So Asith claims to be the only one and obviously the youngest in the Asia-Pacific region to hold both the Chair and Referee titles in the Silver Badge Level at the moment.

"Every time when I did an exam in Tennis I was the youngest in the whole of Asia," smiles the youngman rendering his gratitude to the Asian Tennis Federation, ITF and of course to the SLTA for showing him the path with lot of encouragement.

Q: Since you are not coming from a Tennis playing nation how do you handle it? Tennis is still restricted to a small group of sports enthusiasts in Sri Lanka. What kind of challenges did you have to face before the Tennis giants who are coming from Tennis playing nations?

Asith: Yes, at first International bodies never believed that I would be able to come to this level. But no one looked down on me. Instead they gave all their support.

And once I proved that I was good, they accepted me and gave me the opportunity. But still some in the (international) field cannot believe that I came this far since I came from a non-Tennis-playing nation.

The tight working schedules seem giving him a lot of pressure. "I want to cut down travelling," he repeats. "Need a holiday in Sri Lanka very badly. When the tournaments are on we don't get even the Saturday-Sunday off," he continues.

When asked whether he has already found his future partner, he denied with a shy yet hearty smile. "I haven't got time even for that. I have had many good female friends, but didn't have time to follow up anybody as I was busy," he chuckles.

His next dream is to achieve the Gold Badge, the top level in Tennis world. "I am still 29. Those who have come to the 'Gold' level are mature both in experience and age. So I think I should be a little more mature for that," he says.