Nirmala Jayasinghe retained his Central Province Open Crown, but was taken the distance by a fighting C.P. Liyanage at the finals of the Central Province open TT tournament worked off at the Jagath Rajapakse International Stadium in Kandy. The winner, whose confidence was at a high, played a good all round game. However, at times, [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Nirmala retains TT crown

By Aubrey Kuruppu
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Nirmala Jayasinghe retained his Central Province Open Crown, but was taken the distance by a fighting C.P. Liyanage at the finals of the Central Province open TT tournament worked off at the Jagath Rajapakse International Stadium in Kandy.

The winner, whose confidence was at a high, played a good all round game. However, at times, his smashes tended to go astray. He justified his number two ranking in Sri Lanka beaten finalist Liyanage’s forte was his serve which he varied well. He is probably the best server around. His backhand was a trifle weak and he didn’t recover score enough for the next rally.

Liyanage beat the bottom seed Udaya Ranasinghe by three sets to one in the semis, while Jayasinghe overcame Tilina Wijesiri by the same margin.

Sisters Vinoli and Praveena Silva fought it out in the final of the women’s open which ended in favour of the former, the elder one Praveena is one of a few defensive players in the country. She chops well and occasionally attacks on the fore hand. The much more attacking Vinoli displayed more maturity in her play.

Talented Udaya Ranasinghe had a double, annexing the under 15 and under 18 titles in the latter event, dropped the first set to school-mate Tilina Wijesiri, but came back strongly to win the next three. The under 15 final saw Udaya dropping the first set (as is customary). But he asserted his undoubted supremacy in the next three.

This tournament was a precursor to the Junior Nationals which is scheduled for January. The men’s standard was particularly high. The absence of players from Pushpadana, Good Shepherd convent and St. Anthony’s College was a big disappointment.
Kandy players showed that they are up with the best, barring Rohan Sirisena who is Sri Lanka’s leading player. The age group events were dominated by local players.

Non of Kandy Players — Ishara Madurangi, Nuwani Navodya and Erandi Warusavithane remain timely entrenched at the top of the women’s game.

Secretary Krishantha Karunanayake and Chief Organiser Jagath Rajapakse (the national coach ) deserve a collective pat on the back for a successful tournament.




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