Rio Paralympics: Upali Rajakaruna makes second round exit

509
Upali Rajakaruna

The National Wheelchair Champion Upali Rajakaruna, the sole representative from Sri Lanka at the Rio Paralympics Wheelchair Tennis event bowed out of the competition after he lost to Alfie Hewett of Great Britan in the second round.

Upali, who had an impressive start to his Rio 2016 campaign, defeated 35th seed Ha-Gee Lee 7-5(6) , 6-1 to win the first round game but Alfie Hewett, who is the 12th seed in the  world, defeated him 6-1, 6-2.

Entering his third Paralympic games after stints in Beijing and London in 2008 and 2012 respectively, Upali’s journey in his third Olympics came to an end prematurely. Nevertheless, his Rio run has shown an increase in his rankings as he moves back to the list of top 100 ranked players in the world. He currently stands at No. 95 in the world rankings according to ITF.