With a week to go for the Sri Lanka Schools Tennis Championships Under 19 division, the Bishop’s College Tennis team ready themselves to meter it out at the SLTA courts in the conquest of a top three finish in the overall rankings.
Bishop’s College taking up the racket sport decades ago had their glory days in the sport in the early 2000’s and history books recall the year 2009 a year to be remembered where they ended up as National champs. Since then, the sport has had its drawbacks but with the purposeful contribution by the school and the coaching staff over past two years, Bishopian Tennis is back on track.
Veteran coach Suminda Hewage continues his second year in the coaching capacity of the Bishopians. With over twenty years of coaching experience, Hewage was primarily involved in bringing glory back to the college during his short span of one and a half years. From a team that wasn’t topping the ranks, he has been able to make a significant change in the system to take the teams to the top three ranks. Under his guidance, the under 19 team ended second-runner up in both Inter School Championships as well as the National games and the under 15’s of Bishop’s College ended-up as winners in their age group in this year’s tournament. Suminda speaks confidently of a top three finish for his team in the upcoming U19 championships and hopes that they will gradually come forward to be the winner of the segment.
Senuri Dharmasiriwardena, who has been a regular in the tennis court from the age of 8 will captain the Bishop’s tennis team this year around. Coming up the age groups from Under 10 onwards, Senuri boasts of over four years of playing experience in the under 19 category. Speaking to ThePapare, she mentions that her penultimate motive for this upcoming season will be to take her team to a top three finish beating the heavyweights Visakha Vidyalaya and Ladies College. She further mentions that her team works as one unit to achieve success and hopes that this charm will work for them in the upcoming season as well.
Alongside Senuri is her deputy, Dinushka Herath who also has been playing the sport since her early childhood. Experience is key talking points in the team with many of the players having either played the racket game from their childhood with at least a minimum of four to five years.
With the Under 19 title contest coming up in a few days, Senuri Dharmasiriwardena’s Bishop’s College will be giving their best in the clay courts of SLTA to end in a top position.
Team:
Senuri Dharmasiriwardena C
Dinushka Herath
Sachira Marambe
Tehani Amarasuriya
Bianca Wanniarachchi
Imasha Vidyananda
Avisha De Mel
Saeeda Razick
Dithya Senaratna
Coach – Suminda Hewage
Tennis Captain – Senuri Dharmasiriwardane
