Sri Lanka at World TT in Germany March 21st onwards

by S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Corr.

TABLE TENNIS: Sri Lanka's national table tennis team will participate at the 51st World Table Tennis Championship which will be held at the Berman in Germany from March 21st onwards.

A total of 133 countries will participate at this prestigious International table tennis championship conducted by the International Table Tennis Federation. The last time this championship was held at this venue way back in 1989 and Sri Lanka's present National Table Tennis Coach Jagath Rajapakse was one of the representatives for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will field a 3-member women's team for this championship with Sri Lanka Air Force paddler 21-year Ishara Madurangi as its skipper.

Ishara Madurangi - a product of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda is the current national champion which title she won at Peradeniya last month and she is ranked number one in the country and has been five times national champion.

A notable feature in Sri Lanka's team is the fact that all three members are products of Dharmasoka Ambalangoda which is a great achievement. The other two members are 17-year-old Erandi Warusawitharne who is ranked number 2 in the country. She is currently runner-up in both Junior and Senior National Table Tennis Championship, a little win here eluded her last month at Peradeniya.

The third member of the Sri Lanka women's team is 15-year-old Umaya Tharaki also from Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda. She is the current under-15 girls champion and has excelled in the local championships. She is ranked number 4 and is known for her grit and determination and is a good trier. Both Erandi Warusawitharne and Umaya Tharaki are still students of Dharmasoka College.

The Sri Lanka men's national team will be led by Rohan Sirisena of Sri Lanka Air Force. Rohan Sirisena is presently ranked number one and is the current national champion which he won for the third time last month at Peradeniya. He is an old-boy of Royal College, Colombo.

Sri Lanka's number two ranked Nirmala Jayasinghe of MAS Intimates is the runner-up in the men's senior national championship. He is a product of Vidyartha College and has performed well in the local tournaments.

The third member of the team is Dinesh Deshapriya also from Air Force is ranked number 3 in the island. A good fighter and battles out till the end.

The team will be accompanied as Lady Chaperone by the Assistant Secretary of the Sri Lanka Table Tennis Association Sadishi Nirasha Peiris, one time a good player and now was opted for administrative work for the Table Tennis Association and has been most helpful to the media when covering events.

Jagath Rajapakse will accompany the team as the Manager cum coach. He said that the recently concluded Asian Table Tennis Championship concluded in Macau, Honkong, the Sri Lanka team experienced a fair amount of success. The world championships will see them up against some of the best in the world. The team has been practising regularly at the Jagath Rajapakse International Table Tennis Stadium at Peradeniya and they have been put through their paces and they are in fine fettle. Our ladies team is very young one with the captain being just out of her teens and the other two are still teenagers and still in school. But they are determined to put up a good show.