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| Sunday, 25 January 2004 |
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Sri Lanka second out of eight in u.14 Asian tennis tourney by LAL GUNESEKERA Sri Lanka fared exceptionally well to finish second in the eight-nation International Tennis Federation (ITF) under-14 Asian Championship (Zone II) concluded in Yangoon, Myanmar recently. The six-member team with 91 points finished behind the champions Malaysia (140 points) with host nation, Myanmar (87) and Pakistan (53) taking third and fourth places respectively. It was an auspicious start for SLTA's new coach Guillermo Milisenda of Argentina since he was recruited in December last year (2003). Hasini Jayatilleke of Stafford International School was Sri Lanka's sole title winner when partnering Malaysia's Noordin Jawairiah, won the Girls Doubles, defeating an All-Malaysian pair in straight sets (6-2, 6-0) in the final. In the "semis", Hasini and Noordin beat the Sri Lankan duo of Amitha Arudpragasam and Jithmi Jayawickreme also in straight sets. Sri Lanka's best performance in the singles came from Amitha Arudpragasam (seeded No. 2) when she entered the final. The CIS student lost in straight sets to Malaysia's top seed Jawairish. Her team mates Jithmi Jayawickreme and Jayatilleke did well to win through to the "quarters" to end up fifth and sixth respectively in an 18-player field. Both Amitha Arudpragasam and Jithmi Jayawickreme stand a good chance to represent the ITF junior team in other regional tournaments, and could become the first Sri Lankan girls to become members of an ITF team. Franklyn Emmanual and N. S. Nishendran among the boys represented an ITF Junior Team earlier. The three-member boys team were less successful in Myanmar. Dineshkhanthan Thangaraja of St. Peter's qualified for the semi-finals before losing to Malaysia's Bo Zin 6-7 (7), 6-3 and finished fourth out of a field of 25 players, while Niroshan Prince and Charles Mishal failed to make it to the top 10 list. |
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