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| Sunday, 30 January 2005 |
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Four Sri Lankan juniors continue to play for ITF by LAL GUNESEKERA Four Sri Lankan juniors (two boys and two girls) will represent the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior team (Zone II) and compete alongside a similar team from Zone I in March at a venue to be decided soon by the ITF. The four Lankan juniors had impressive performances in two "back to back" ITF under-14 Asian Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam recently, and at the end of the two tournaments, they were among the top four. They were Dineshkanthan Thangaraja of St. Peter's, Indika Wettasinghe of Royal, Jithmi Jayawickreme of Bishop's and Nilupul Gunasekera of Museaus. The two boys were No. 1 and No. 4 respectively in Vietnam, while the two girls were placed third and fourth respectively. "ITF's Zone I team will comprise players from India, Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Indonesia besides Sri Lanka, but the tournament in March will not be a team event with the players competing for individual titles. The tournament will be on a league format and they will engage in matches upto the final day. Then the players would have earned his/her deserved rank" said Mrs. Shalini de Silva, who accompanied the side to Vietnam as coach cum manageress. The 14-year-old Thangaraja, who is a product from Batticaloa, is a veteran of three ITF under-14 tournaments and was the top seed in the first tournament. He lost in the semi-finals to third seeded Son Nguyen of Vietnam 4-6, 2-6. He was demoted to seed No. 3 in the second tournament, but went on to win the title beating a Malaysian player who had earlier overcome Nguyen. The most promising performance came from Indika Weetasinghe the 12-year-old from Royal, who was playing in his first ITF junior tournament. In his debut, he entered both finals (doubles with Thangaraja) and is a good bet for the future if he continues in the same fashion. Jithmi Jayawickreme reached the semi-finals in both tournaments, while Nilupul Gunasekera was a semi-finalist in the first tournament. Jithmi was in the ITF junior team last year too. |
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