Senior and juniorchamp Praveena Silva beaten:

Tilina Wijesiri of Vidyartha in giant killing effort

by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Cor.

CHAMPS BEATEN: Tilina Wijesiri of Vidyartha College, Kandy, put up a giant killing performance to defeat the senior and junior nation champion Udaya Ranasinghe while Praveena Silva of Girls High School won the Open Ladies Singles to steal the limelight at the 3rd annual Sakuna Challenge Trophy Central Province Table Tennis Championship 2014 organised by the Kandy District Table Tennis Association and sponsored by Sakuna Holdings (Pvt.) Limited. The tournament was worked off at the Jagath Rajapakse International Table Tennis Stadium, at Ganegoda off Peradeniya.

It was truly a giant killing performance by 17 year old Tilina Wijesiri to beat the in-form national singles champion Udaya Ranasinghe by the comfortable margin of 3 - 1 in the open men's semi-finals. The other losing semi-finalist was last year's champion and one-time national champion Nirmala Jayasinghe of MAS Holdings who lost to Prasad de Silva.

The open men's singles finals was however a closely contested affair with Tilina Wijesiri winning the first set 11/6 but his challenger Prasad de Silva won the next two sets 7/11 and 6/11 giving thought to another upset. But Tilina Wijesiri wrapped up the proceedings by winning the next two sets 11/7 and 11/9 to win 3-2.

Praveena Silva, though receiving a set back in the girls under 18 singles event losing to Ochini Dissanayake of Mahamaya Girls College 3/1, hit back very strongly in the Ladies Singles Open event by scoring a facile 3 - 0 win over the same opponent. She won 11/9, 11/7 and 11/8.

Results

Boys under 8 singles: Varuna Abeyratne (Dharmaraja College) beat Sadaru Abeysinghe (Dharmaraja College) 2-1, 11/9, 10/12, 11/9.

Girls Under 8 singles: Dimagi Ramanayake (Kandy Girls High School) beat Savini Ratwatte 2-1: 14/12, 5/11, 11/7.

Boys under 10 singles: Dhanushka Wijesinghe (Kingswood College) beat Rifky Ahamed (Kingswood College) 2-0 11/8, 11/5.

Girls under 10 singles: Tharani Galagoda Hillwood College) beat Kavini Malalpola (Hillwood College) 2-0. 11/7, 11/7

Boys under 12 singles: Chandupa Alahakoon (Kingswood College) beat Pium Ekanayake (Vidyartha College) 3/2. 11/9, 10/12, 11/3, 7/11, 11/6.

Girls under 12 singles: Poojani Wittachchi (Good Shepherd Convent, Kandy) beat Dinithi Dissanayake (Mahamaya Girls College) 3-0: 11/8, 11/8, 11/9.

Boys under 15 singles: P.D.U. Tennakoon (Dharmaraja College) beat Chathura Gunasekera (Sussex College) 3-0. 11/6, 11/6, 11/5.

Girls under 15 singles: Samadhi Hettiarachchi (Mahamaya Girls College) beat Ochini Dissanayake (Mahamaya Girls College) 3-2. 11/8, 11/4, 8/11, 8/11, 11/7.

Boys under 18 singles: Udaya Ranasingle (Vidyartha College) beat Chinthaka Ekanayake (Vidyartha College) 3-0. 11/4, 11/9, 11/5.

Girls under 18 singles: Ochini Dissanayake (Mahamaya Girls College) beat Praveena Silva (Kandy Girls High School) 3-1 11/7, 4/11, 12/10, 11/8.

Open Mens Singles : Tilina Wijesiri (Vidyartha College) beat Prasad de Silva (Vidyartha College) 3-2: 11/6, 7/11, 6/11, 11/7,11/9.

Open Womens Singles: Praveena Silva (Kandy Girls High School) beat Ochini Dissanayake (Mahamaya Girls College) 3/0. 11/9, 11/7, 11/8.

Veteran Parents Singles Winner: Priyanka Dissanayake. Runner up: Samantha Ratwatte.

Veteran Coach's Singles: Winner: Gamini Silva. Runner up: Jagath Rajapakse.