A team comprising of 4 players, D.M Gamini, R Ranaweera, S Dharmasena and L Senaratne took flight last month to compete in 3 ITF Futures series tournaments held in Thailand, Bangkok and Malaysia. The four men returned to the island heavy handed having earned 11 medals in total during the three weeks in play.
The Thailand Open held from 21st October – 23rd October where R. Ranaweera and Dharmasena took on the main draw. Dharmasena’s journey was cut short in the quarter final as he went down tamely to bottom seed and local Khlongrua 6/0, 6/3 despite winning the second round 6/1, 6/2.
Meanwhile, Ranaweera carried the lion flag forward all the way to the final. With a bye in the first round and an easy win over D Jin of Korea in the second, he faced the tournament top seed H. IM in the quaterfinal.
When men in wheels took to Malaysia
The venerated veterans of the Sri Lankan Forces have once again proved worthy of themselves, this time, at the Malaysian Open…
The match looked to be in the grasp of the Korean as he managed to claim the first set 6/2. Ranaweera wasn’t done just yet as he came back with a strong hold on his serve in the second set to come out victorious 7/5.
With the finals washed out, both he and Ranaweera were adjudged joint winners.
Dharmasena and Ranaweera later teamed up for the doubles cruised to the quarters with a bye. With an easy 6/0, 6/1 win in the quarters, the duo lost out 6/3, 6/3 in the semifinals.
After a 2-day respite, the Dharmasena-Ranaweera duo made it to another men’s semi-final. After a well fought game, Dharmasena’s hopes dashed when he faced S. Khlongrua of Thailand as a three point gap in the tie breaker took the Thai to the final. Just as his comrade, Ranaweera went down to Ho Won Im as he had an easy going game to advance to the final.
Similar to the earlier tournament, the duo had better luck in the doubles as they managed to reach the final to face Thailand pair Khlongrua and Krumai. They couldn’t push for the gold but had to be content with silver.
The Malaysian Open was the last stretch of the tour for the men. The men’s singles draw saw all four of our players contesting against talent from Malaysia, India and Korea. This time around it was 4th seed Gamini Dissanayake who pulled through to the final only to face defeat in the hands of top seed Ho Im. Ho Im, having a tremendous run throughout the series finished with yet another title champion defeating Gamini with a score of 7/5, 6/2.
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In the doubles event, Dharmasena and Ranaweera’s last stint in doubles saw them reaching the semi-final with the help with a bye.
With one more hurdle before the big final, the pair faced dangerous Im and Lee of Korea. Scores were even after the end of the first two sets and the match was to be decided in a third set super tie breaker. The Korean pair got the better of Dharmasena and Ranaweera as they edged out victory by a mere 3 point lead. Full time scores read 6/3, 3/6 (10-7).
The team was coached by Jagath Welikala who has been the mentor for the Wheelchair community in Sri Lanka while being the single coach from them.
ThePapare.com will be having a sit down with the proud players and coach next week to get the scoop of the world, that is Wheelchair Tennis. Stay Logged!
