Young Udaya bags maiden TT international gold for Lanka
Table Tennis history of Sri Lanka was re-written in New Delhi last week by Imesh Udaya Ranasinghe when he won a gold medal at the South Asian Junior Cadet Table Tennis Championship 2015. This was the first time a Sri Lankan peddler won a gold medal at any international competition.
Sri Lankan contingent- Pix by Amila Gamage
The medal drought of Sri Lanka was brought to a halt when these Sri Lankan lads and lasses won a gold, six silvers and six bronze medals. India with nine gold medals, three silvers and a bronze emerged champions while the Lankan peddlers fought all the way to be the runner-up. Pakistan and Nepal with five bronze medals finished third in the overall medals tally.
Sri Lanka Boys team captain Udaya Ranasinghe by winning the gold in the Junior Boys Singles final denied India of a clean sweep in the championship. The Lankan skipper exhibiting his prowess in the game emerged champion beating Indias No. Two Lalrinpula 4-2 in the last day of the tournament. This was a memorable tournament for this youngster from Vidyartha College, Kandy who came to the finals by defeating No 1 seeded player Utkarsh Gupta in the semi-finals. One cannot take the credit away from Ranasinghe for the way he responded – first against Gupta and then in the final to beat Lalrinpula.
Soon after this historic victory an elated Ranasinghe said “I was confident of a good show because I had a nice rhythm going. After the semi-finals win I only had to put the ball on the table for my opponent to make a mistake”. Later at a felicitation ceremony held at the Sports Ministry Udaya speaking to the Sunday Times said that as he had taken part in this event for six times, losing every time to Indians at the semis and this time he was confident in becoming the champ once he toppled the Indian No. one player.
Udaya Ranasinghe
The best match of the tournament happened to be the tussle between the seeded Utkarsh Gupta and Ranasinghe. The latter, who is a regular on the global junior circuit not only exhibited a superb brand of table tennis with blistering forehands to overpower the high riding Indian, the winner of the title in the last championship.
Credit cannot be taken away from the Sri Lankan champ, despite being in early trouble, sized up his opponent’s weaknesses to thrive on them. The best about this Lankan champ was his ability to shift gears from defence to offence and vice-versa. In the Boys Doubles finals Udaya Ranasinghe partnering Krishan Wickremaratne didn’t find easy sailing against an India pair to go down 3-0 to win a silver medal.
Apart from Udaya, the other members of the contingent too joined hands to fly the Sri Lanka national flag high by adding two more Silver medals to the four medals won at the team events and winning six bronze medals. In the Girls Under 18 Doubles Ruvini Kannangara and Muthumali Priyadarshani won a silver while bronze medals were won by Krishan Wickremaratne, Ruvini Kannangara, Muthumali Priyadarshani, Virunaka Hendahewa, Hansani Piyumila and Imesha De Silva.
Results:
Junior Boys: Final- Udaya Imesh Ranasinghe (Sri Lanka) beat Lalrinpula (India) 4-2 (11-9, 11-5, 4-11, 11-13, 12-10, 14-12) Semi-Finals: Lalrinpula (India) beat Krishan Wickremaratne (Sri Lanka) 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5), Udaya Ranasinghe (Sri Lanka) beat Utkarsh Gupta 4-2 (9-11, 11-8, 1-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8)
Doubles: Finals- Utkarsh Gupta/Lalrinpula (India) beat Udaya Ranasinghe/Krishan Wickremaratne (Sri Lanka) 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-9)
Junior Girls: Finals- Sreeja Akula (India) beat Shruti Amruthe (India) 4-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8); Semi-Finals: Sreeja Akula (India) beat Ruvini Kannangara (Sri Lanka) 4-1 (11-1, 11-7, 11-7, 6-11, 11-2); Shruti Amruthe (India) beat Muthumali Priyadarshani (Sri Lanka) 4-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5)
Doubles : Finals- Shruti Amruthe/Sreeja Akula (India) beat Ruvini Kannangara/Priyadarshani (Sri Lanka) 3-1 (6-11, 11-3, 11-6, 12-10)
Cadet Boys: Finals- Manv Thakkar (India) beat Parth Virmani (India) 3-1 (11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7); Semi-Finals – Manav Thakkar (India) beat Santoo Shreshtra (Nepal) 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 13-11); Parth Virmani (India) beat Virunaka Hendahewa (Sri Lanka) 3-2 (11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 14-12)
Cadte Girls: Finals- Shrushthi Helangadi (India) beat Archana Kamath (India) 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7); Semi-Finals – Archana Kamath (India) beat Imesha De Silva (Sri Lanka) 3-0 (14-12, 11-7, 11-1); Srushthi Helangadi (India) beat Hansani Piyumila (Sri Lanka) 3-1 (12-10, 11-6, 11-5)