Week 1 of the ITF Under 18 Colombo got underway earlier this week at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts with the participation of over 100 players from around the globe.
The Under 18 event is a continuation series conducted by the International Tennis Federation, the international governing body for tennis, in accordance to the international tennis rankings. The Colombo week which began on Monday saw a majority of Indians alongside a handful of Sri Lankans including national champions Avindra Perera, Thisuri Molligoda and Nethmi Waduge.
Unfortunately, both Molligoda and Perera were unsuccessful in their campaigns and were knocked out of the tournament before the knockout stages. The under 18 national title holder from S. Thomas’, Avindra Perera, was fortunate enough to win his 1st round game against Michael Francis of Philippines 7-5, 6-2 but failed to progress to the quarter finals as he was defeated by Ondrej Styler of the Czech Republic. Perera was the only Sri Lankan to advance to the second round in the boy’s draw, while the others failed to register a single win.
Top seeding player in the under 18 segment C. Wang made it to the quarterfinals that was scheduled to be played this evening. Wang will be meeting Weiboven Zou of China in his quarterfinal match. The other notable person in the quarterfinal draw is #3 seed Ondrej Styler who will face Toby Huffer from the United Kingdom. Out of the six Indians who qualified for the main draw, only Rishi Reddy made it to the quarter finals and will face David Nguyen of the United States tomorrow.
It was a remarkable achievement for the hosts, in the Girls draw, when thirteen year old Adithya Karunaratne defeated the top seed of the draw Ting-Chieh Wei of Chinese Taipei in the qualifying round 6-3, 6-0; creating the biggest upset of the tournament. Young Karunaratne currently has her spot in the quarter finals and will face Sabrina Woll of Hong Kong. Woll defeated Sri Lanka’s Thisuri Molligoda to advance through to the quarters while Sri Lanka’s hopes in the Girl’s draw will now rest on Karunaratne and Nethmi Waduge. The under 18 champion, Waduge worked her way through to the quarter final spot defeating Hsuan Yu Lin 6-1, 6-3 in the second round. Waduge will face Ai Qi Chen of China and is just two games away from reaching the finals.
The gametes resumed at 12 noon today due to the downpour of rain in the morning.
