Sri Lanka Paddlers off to Commonwealth TT Championships

21ST COMMONWEALTH TT CHAMPIONSHIP - 2019

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The Sri Lanka National Table Tennis Association has selected an eight-member team for the 21st Commonwealth TT Championships which is set to take place Cuttack, Odisha, India from the 17th to the 22nd July 2019.

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The national team will be participating in this year’s Commonwealth TT Championship  that will take place in JawaharLal Nehru Indoor Stadium and will feature top players from 14 nations such as Australia, Bangladesh, Cyprus, England, India – host country, Jersey, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Wales. The Championship is organized by the Commonwealth TT Federation in collaboration with the Indian TT Federation. This year’s edition will be the 21st championship and will consist of seven events; Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles Women’s Doubles Mixed Doubles, Men’s Team Championship and Women’s Team Championship.

Sri Lanka is no stranger to the Commonwealth TT championship arena, having performed well in many of its previous years. The Women’s and Men’s team respectively finish up 5th and 7th places to end up the tournament in the previous year. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams were selected by the selection committee after 2 trials held on 1st and 2nd June 2019 at S. Thomas’ Indoor Stadium Mt Lavinia. This Championship is of importance for the players to get international match exposure prior to the forth coming SAG to be held in Nepal in December.

A well qualified coach Mr. Buddika Dikkumbura will be assisted by Manager cum Delegate, Mr. Chandana Perera and Mrs. Priyani Dissanayake, who will function as the In charge for the School Players and lady chaperone for the contingent. The Hon. Minister of Sports has approved the team and the funding to meet the cost of air tickets.

The team consists of 8 talented players in Sri Lanka Table Tennis from the Men’s and Women’s category.

Men’s Team

1. Rohan Sirisena (Captain) 

Skipper of the Men’s team, Rohan Sirisena is old boy of Royal College and one of the most experienced campaigner in the side. He is currently the most experienced and the most senior national Table Tennis player in the country, who has captained both junior and senior teams in 1999 and 2009 representing the national flag internationally.

He has represented several World Championships, Asian Games & Championships and as well as South Asian Games winning the silver medal in 2006, 2010, 2016 and Lusofonia Games Bronze Medalist in 2016. This is his 10th year of representing the senior squash team for Sri Lanka. He is a junior national Table Tennis Triple Crown Champion of The Year 1997-1999 

2. Krishan Wickkramarathne

A product of Vidyartha College Krishan Wickkramarathne was the number 02 ranked table tennis player in 2018.  He has represented the junior national team from 2013 to 2018 in several South Asian Junior Table Tennis championships and Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships.  

Krishan has also won several junior national titles in 2015 and 2016. Krishan also won 2 Gold medals and 1 Silver medal in the South Asian junior table tennis Championship held in Pakistan in 2016

3. Nirmala Jayasinghe 

Nirmala Jayasinghe is the third most experienced campaigner in the side. He was a former captain of the National Table Tennis Team in 2015 for the World Championship Tour. National Table Tennis Men’s Doubles Champion respectively in 2003-2009 -2010 -2013-2015-2016 and National Sport Festival Gold medalist of the year 1998 – 2003 – 2010 – 2011 -2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017. 

He represented Sri Lanka in the South Asian games and achieved the Silver Medal and Gold Medal in 2016. In the Lusofonia Games honoured with Bronze Medal. He is currently working at MAS Intimates (PVT) LTD,

4. Milinda Lakshitha

Milinda Lakshitha is the second experienced campaigner in the Men’s team. He captained the D.S. Senanayaka College Table Tennis Team in 2003 and 2004. He also won the Doubles National Champion title in 2009, 2011,2012 and in 2015 National Games Double Champion.

He represented SL in the South Asian Junior Championships, Asian Championships and World Championship. He was the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships Silver Medalist 2004. He was the former Doubles Rank No 1 player respectively in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Read Also: Chameera and Bimandee grab National Titles

Women’s Team

1. Ishara Madurangi (Captain)

Captain of the Womens’s Team Ishara Madurangi is the most experienced campaigner in the team. She captained the Junior Table Tennis Team in 2005, 2006 and 2007.Ishara served as captain for the national team from 2009 up to now. She was also the Table Tennis National Champion in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. She was also junior National Table Tennis Champion respectively in 2005, 2006 and 2007. She gained the Best Schools’ Athlete (Milo Colors) in 2009. She is the best player in the National Games.

One of the remarkable achievements of Ishara would be the Silver medal and Bronze Medal at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship held in New Delhi- India. She was also a key player of the team which won the bronze medal at the South Asian Games held in Shillong-India. She has also represented the Sri Lanka National Table Tennis team at the World Table Tennis Championships and Asian Table Tennis Championship.

She is member of the Sri Lanka Junior National squash team which participated at the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships and also represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship. Ishara is currently working at the Sri Lanka Port Authority. She is an old girl and best product of the Sri Devananda College – Ambalangoda.

2. Bimandee Bandara

Bimandee aged 14 years and studying at Hillwood College, Kandy is the youngest in the Sri Lanka Table Tennis Team at the Commonwealth TT Championship 2019. This is the first time Bimandee is representing Sri Lanka at the senior level. She is the National Champion in 2018 and Women’s Singles Ranking No 1 player in the Sri Lanka.

She has represented Sri Lanka at the South Asian Region Hopes Table Tennis Championship 2016 – India and SET Thailand Junior & Cadet Open Table Tennis Championship 2018 and 2019.

3. Chamathsara Fernando

Chamathsara Fernando of Visakha Vidyalaya represents Sri Lanka National Team in World Team Table Tennis Championship (Tokyo – Japan), Commonwealth Games (Glasgow – Scotland) – and Asian Table Tennis Championship (Pattaya– Thailand) respectively 2014 and 2015. She is a member of the Sri Lankan Team who won the Bronze Medal at South Asian Games (Guwahati-India) in 2016.

She has also won several titles while representing the Sri Lanka Junior Team respectively in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She was the captain of the Asian School Games in 2016. She has gained so many Inter School Table Tennis Championship titles.

4. Jithara Warnakulasuriya

Jithara Warnakulasuriya is the newest addition to the national senior women’s team. She is currently a student as Ladies College, Colombo and has represented the national junior teams at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis championships and won the Cadet Girls Team event in 2017.