Sharmal marches on in Europe!

TENNIS: Sharmal Dissanayake, Sri Lanka's tennis whiz kid, has become the first Sri Lankan tennis player to play in the ITF Young Stars Tournament 2010 in Europe, representing the top Asian players in the 14 & under category. Sharmal is currently playing against world's top players of his age in an ITF sponsored European tour in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Sharmal's selection to this prestigious tour was the culmination of a series of tennis tournaments sponsored by ITF Asia in various Asian countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. After the last tournament in China, Sharmal ended up as sixth overall in Asia and only the top eight Asian players were selected to participate in this European tour.

The Young Stars Tournament is a prestigious one consisting of five consecutive top class tournaments during the individual European Championships. Players are selected to this tournament from all over the world by the International Tennis Federation from its affiliate bodies such as the Asian Tennis Association, Confederacion Sudamericana de Tenus Confederation of African Tennis, Tennis Europe Chinese Tennis Association, Tennis Australica, Japan Tennis Association and the Tennis Canada. The Young Stars Tournament had produced some of the finest tennis players like Kim Clijsters, Jostine Henin, Maria Sharpova, Anchy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Fernando Gonzales, Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Lleyton Hewit.

Sharmal's long march to glory started at the tender age of four with his coach Kingsley Candappa. He first won the Sri Lanka's Junior National Championship 10 & Under in 2004, 2005 & 2006. He joined his coach Arul Amalanathan for advance training. In 2008 (12 & under) and in 2009 (14 & under) he was the junior National Champion. He started representing Sri Lanka in World Juniors in 2007 in New Delhi, India, following it up in Kuchimg Malaysia in 2008 and Anging City, China in 2010.

He then represented Sri Lanka in the ITF Zone Group II Asian Championship in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2008 and in Sarawak, Malaysia in 2009 and 2010. In these tournaments, Sharmal had won two gold medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals.

He also represented Sri Lanka as a member of the ITF Team at the ITF Zone Group 1 Asian Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia and Shenzhen City, China in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In the 2010 Championship, Sharmal was ranked 5th and ranked 6th overall, which enabled him to be selected to the current ITF Young Stars Tournament Europe 2010. Only the top eight players from Asia are participating in this tournament.

Sharmal Dissanayake is currently taking part in the BNP Paribas Cup in Stade Francais, Paris and will move to the Netherlands on 12th July to take part in the Windmill Cup Carl Gantois in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. He will then comeback to France again to play in the Le 13/14 des Hauts-de-Seine in Rueil-Malmalson, France. On 26th July Sharmal will tour Germany and play the 33 International Deutsche Tennismeisterschaft U14 in Koln, Germany.

The final leg of the grueling 40-day European tour will be the Lapperre Young Champions Cup- Hasselt to be played in Belgium from 31st July.

In this European tour Sharmal is tipped to play against the world's top tennis players in the under 14 category and the experience and exposure he is receiving will be of enormous benefit to both Sharmal and tennis in Sri Lanka.

Sharmal's sparring partners in Sri Lanka include top of the league local players like Harshana Godamanne, Rajeev Rajapakse and Udith Wickramasinghe. Playing with these seniors has sharpened Sharmal's tennis skills immensely. His present coaches are Vijay Kanth at CR&FC and Christopher Barathi Pillai. In his early formative years, the contributions made by his former coaches Kingsley Candappa and Arul Amalanathan is gratefully remembered by Sharmal.

Sharmal is presently studying in Grade 9 at Royal College, Colombo. He is grateful to his Principal Royal College Mr. Upali Gunasekera for granting him permission to participate in all the International Tournaments. Before his departure to Europe he captained the Royal College under-15 Tennis Team, which won the Public School Tennis Tournament 2010, beating St. Peter's College, Bambalapitiya in the finals.