The past week has been a very successful week for Sri Lanka in World Junior Tennis with our team coming in third position in the boys’ tournament yesterday and winning the girls’ championship on Monday.
Though sadly unable to progress to the final, the Sri Lankan team had to compete for the third place in the tournament at the Gymkhana Club Courts. This crucial match was played against Syria. The boys’ finals also took place on the same day between Kazakhstan and Kuwait. Kazakhstan emerged Champions of the boys’ tournament when they beat Kuwait, 2-1.
Photo Album – ATP World Juniors Boys Under 14
Though Kazakh player Dmitry Bezeborodov won his Men’s second singles, his counterpart Danil Ozernoy missed his chance at victory in his singles. Bezeborodov almost effortlessly beat Kuwaiti Alshati Ali in 9-2, 6-0. Ozernoy lost to Bader Anter of Kuwait, 0-6, 2-6. His loss at the first singles made the doubles match the nail-biting decider of the ultimate champion of the tournament. The doubles match was a very competitive and close fight between partners Bezeborodov and Sidorov of Kazakhstan and Ali and Antar of Kuwait. The games ultimately went in favour of Kazakstan and the score for this match was 7-6(3) 4-6 [10-8].
Sri Lanka conquered all three of their matches against Syria by winning in straight sets. Nenuka Jayathilakalage played the second singles against Al-Azmeh Taym and won 6-2 6-2. The first singles was played between Ashen Silva and Pierre Djaroueh, and was won by the Sri Lankan, 6-1 7-5. Jayathilakalage partnered with Silva for the doubles and they overcame the Syrian duo by scoring 6-2 6-3, adding up points for Sri Lanka to come third in the tournament.
