The press conference for the Carlton Junior Cup Tennis Tournament 2014 was held at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies on the 20th of October.
The tournament which has been a part of the Lankan tennis scene for the past five years is now set to embark on its largest undertaking in its sixth year along with Hambantota Sports Club, as it will play host to over 1000 participants from over 100 schools in 10 regions namely Batticaloa, Jaffna, Ratnapura, Bandarawela, Negombo, Kalutara, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matale and Colombo.
The tournament which is being sponsored by Sun City Travels, E wis, Zigo and Havelock City is scheduled to take place from the 25th to the 28th of October. The participating schools will take part in four events which are as follows.
· Under 7 (Red ball Category)
· Under 8 (Orange ball Category)
· Under 10 (Green ball Category)
· Under 12 (Yellow ball Category)
In all age categories the participating schools will be divided into two groups and all the teams will be playing in the group format. The first two teams from each group will then be chosen into the knockout phase of the tournament. All participants will be awarded certificates and the teams which finish in the first four places will be awarded trophies.
The event commenced at 6.00 pm and was graced by the following dignitaries who formed the head table for the event. Mr. Iqbal Bin Issack (President SLTA), Mr. Ravin Du Plessis (CEO Hambantota Sports Club), Mr. Dinith Pathiraja (Tournament Director), Mr Ravi Perera (Chairman- Coaching and Promotions), Mr. Anupa Mattemagoda (3G Sports) and Mr. Pradeep Goonesekera (General Secretary SLTA).
The welcome address was delivered by Mr Issack who stated the following. ‘It is with great pleasure that I welcome all of you to the press conference of what is guaranteed to be a wonderful junior sporting event in the country and my sincere gratitude goes out to HSC for coming on board to help us organize this year’s tournament’. He also went on to commend HSC for the efforts taken to uplift the sport as well as thank the members of the press for the coverage they have been offering the game of tennis which has been crucial in the elevation of the sport.
Mr. Du Plessis who also addressed the gathering expressed the following ideas. ‘We at HSC believe that it is absolutely essential to even out the playing field between those who are affluent in the sport and those who are not and tournaments of this nature do that as they enable people from every area in the country to come out here and showcase their talent’. ‘I would also like to thank the sponsors for stepping forward and showcasing their faith in this initiative’ he reiterated.
The referee for the tournament is Dinusha Wijesuriya and he will be assisted by Anoujan Subramaniam, Thuruna Eshwarage and Anjana De Silva.
The tournament organizing committee headed by the tournament director Mr. Dinith Pathiraja includes Ms. Shalini Perera, Ms. Zareena Saleem, Mr. Udith Wickremasinghe and Mr. S Thevanesan, the National Coordinator of the JTI programme in Sri Lanka.
ThePapare.com takes this opportunity to wish all those taking part the best of luck ahead of this important tournament which is guaranteed to produce tennis of the finest quality, courtesy some of the best junior players in the country.
