Pakistani Heera Ashiq, Nethmi Waduge SL Men’s, Women’s Tennis Champs respectively
Heera Ashiq
The 101st Colombo Tennis Championship was successfully concluded last week, with at least 800 Junior and Senior Tennis players, along with overseas entrants, competing. The numbers alone augur well for the future of local Tennis . The showpiece games were the finals of the Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Open Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
Nethmi Waduge
Of the foreign participants, Heera Ashiq of Pakistan seeded 3, took center stage by clinching the Mens Open Singles final title, downing local star and 4th seed Nishangan Nadaraja in 4 sets. Though Ashiq lost the 1st set 3-6, he rallied to win the next 3 sets 6-2 ,6-4, 6-1. Ashiq’s superb volleying and overhead smashes unsettled Nadaraja most of the time.
In the Womens Open Singles final, top seed Nethmi Waduge proved too good for up-and-coming star Anika Seneviratne. Waduge with her superb backhand and groundstroke play easily overcame Seneviratne in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. In the Mens Open Double final, the Pakistani pair of Heera and Tanvir Asheeq, outplayed the local duo of Sankha Athukorala and Yasitha De Silva by 6-2, 7-5, 6-2. In the Mixed Doubles final Sankha Athukorala and Medhira Samarasinghe defeated Heera Ashiq and Nethmi Waduge in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. The Colombo Tennis Championship will continue to be a major Tennis attraction in years to come attracting more foreign participation from Asian region.
Final Results:
Girls U-10 Singles Final: Ruwi Lewkebandara bt. Vishmi Serasinghe, 9-5
Girls U-12 Singles Final: Anjalika Kurera bt. Tharani Alexander, 6-1, 6-1
Girls U-14 Doubles Final: Oshini Herath-Alana Seneviratne bt. Tiara Beneragama-Sethmi Sumanaweera, 6-4, 6-4
Girls U-16 Singles Final: Janali Manamperi bt. Prabuddhi Perera, 6-4, 6-4
Girls U-16 Doubles Final: Nathasha Munaweera-Sathi Silva bt. Dileka Daniel-Samadhi Jayasinghe, 6-4, 6-2
Girls U-18 Singles Final: Anika Seneviratne bt. Sathi Silva, 6-3, 7-5
Boys U-10 Singles Final: Vichinthya Nilaweera bt. Matheesha Nettasinghe, 9-0
Boys U-12 Singles Final: Apna Perera bt. Akith Senaratne, 6-1, 6-3
Boys U-14 Singles Final: Ashen Silva bt. Kavisha Ratnayake, 6-3, 6-1
Boys U-14 Doubles Final: Luca Emanuel Knese/-Isuru Peiris bt. Shivendra Perera-Rakesh Ratnasingham 7-6(4), 5-7, 10-4
Boys U-16 Singles Final: Vibuda Wijebandara bt. Manal Algama, 6-1, 6-1
Boys U-16 Doubles Final: Vibuda Wijebandara-Vinuja Wijebandara bt. Nenuka Jayathilake-Kavisha Ratnayake, 6-4, 6-3
Boys U-18 Singles Final: Aadavan Pushparaj bt. Udayachandran Srinath, 6-2, 6-3 Boys U-18 Doubles Final: Kavindu Diluka-Archana Lokuge bt. Avindra Perera-Inthujan Selvarathnarajah, 6-4, 5-7, 10-5
Wheelchair Singles Final: D.S.R. Dharmasena bt. N.R.L.S. Ranaweera, 1-6, 6-1, 11-9
Wheelchair Doubles Final: D.S.R. Dharmasena-N.R.L.S. Ranaweera bt. H.M.L. Senaratne-W.P.J. Wijesiri, 6-1, 6-2
Mens Over 35 Singles Final: Perumal Ganeshan bt. Ramesh Abeywardena, 6-0, 6-1
Mens Over 45 Doubles Final: Chammika De Silva-Ganendran Subramaniam bt. Rohan Fernando-Sirimal Kannangara, 6-0, 6-0
Mens Over 55 Singles Final: Ravi Subramanium received W/O from T.F. Hadji
Mens Over 55 Doubles Final: D.A.D.W. Athukorala-S.A. Seneviratne received W/O from T.F.Hadji-R. Lal Chandra