A participant count of over 200 will march on to the courts of S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia for the STC C’ Grade Junior Tennis Tournament that will be held in the Thomian courts in the coming days starting from tomorrow.
The tournament organized by the tennis academy administered by the veteran player and national crown holder Dineshkanthan Thangarajah, this tournament will feature junior mini tennis tournaments for the kids who have just begun their journey in the racket sport whilst featuring the top seeding players who will make their way to the courts for the main under 12,14 titles.
Organized to uplift the sport amongst the younger ones, organizing tournaments of such nature will motivate the young playes to progress in the game to finally end up reaching the highest peak. This will be one of the main initiatives intended by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association’s orange ball motive to improve junior tennis around the country.
For the first time, a record of 257 participants will make their way to S. Thomas’ College for this C grade tournament to battle it out to decide who will take home the 14 titles on offer. Starting from the under 7-age group, the tournament will consist of singles age groups up to under 14 in both girls and boys. The doubles titles will only be on offer for the under 14 and under 10 category on wards in the main courts. The age groups of under 7,8 will be played in the mini tennis format with the inclusion of new formats in the junior circuit.
A total of 32 participants will play the premiere event in the tournament; the under 14 boys singles which is a compilation of many seeded players. Having completed their national run, many seeded players have entered their name up in the singles draw for this tournament. Top seed for the tournament will be Chanith De Silva alongside Lehan Koswatte and Nenuka Jayathileke. Due to the increased entries in the under 14 category, there will be a qualification round before the main draw.
The Girl’s under 14 singles category will have the lesser known names who are looking at the greater prospects in the racket game. Samadhi Jayasinghe will be the key highlight in the tournament due to her top level seeding. Nimna Fernando and Oshini Herath will be tipped to be the other key players in the division.
The games will be carried out in the STC courts starting from tomorrow and will continue for a span of ten days ending on the 13th with the award ceremony.
