ITF Junior c’ships from Monday at SSC

The 25th ITF Junior (Under 18) Championships is all set to be staged at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) for the 4th consecutive year, from February 11 to 16. This tournament is an annual event and it is hosted by the SSC on behalf of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.

Over 14 countries including Sri Lanka will compete at this year’s tournament. The other countries are Malaysia, India, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Iran. Both girls & boys Under 18 groups would take part in this tournament.

With over 32 entries submitted to date, qualifying round matches would be played over the weekend to decide on the qualifiers for the main draw scheduled to be held today.

Sponsoring the tournament once again is Associated Motorways and Dunlop will provide the tennis balls for the tournament. Ishara Seneviratne ITF Referee will referee the tournament and Bernard Perera will function as Director.

Vasantha Wijesekera, Chairman, Tournament and Matches Committee, SLTA states that several ITF Ranked players from Sri Lanka will participate in this tournament. Dineshkanthan Thangarajah , Jithmie Jayawickrema, Amritha Muttaih, Guyanga Weerasekera and Michael Siyaguna are the Sri Lanka ITF ranked players taking part in this tournament. Much is expected from them at this year’s tournament and hopefully they could better their ITF ranking as they are playing on home territory.

The Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) was established in 1919 and is the oldest Tennis Club in Asia. SLTA is working towards developing tennis and extending its popularity in Sri Lanka. Currently 300 students are attending coaching programmes conducted by the SLTA and 30 have been identified for specialize training. (HJ)