Chalitha Ranjana 1st Lankan to win Gold
Lankan Chalitha Ranjana and Sri Lanka-born Rajitha Samaraweera stole the limelight at the New Zealand (NZ) Open Table Tennis (TT) Championships 2017, held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from Oct. 5-14.
In a tournament of over 300 Paddlers, Ranjana playing in Grade ‘A’ won 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze, while Samaraweera playing in Grade ‘B’, won 1 Gold and 1 Silver. Chalitha Ranjana became the first Sri Lankan to win Gold at the NZ Open TT Championship.
Chalitha Ranjana partnering Chinese Gina Liu won Gold in the Over (O)-30 Open Mixed Doubles, and Bronze in the Open Mixed Doubles event. He was partnered by Bulgarian Vladmir Ivnov to win Gold in the Open O-30 Doubles event.
Results
Chalitha Ranjana:
O-30 Men’s Doubles Final: Chalitha Ranjana-Valdmir Ivnov won 3-2 over Ben Collins-Jason Granville
O-30 Mixed Doubles Final: Chalitha Ranjana-Gina Liu won 3-1 over Ben Collins-Michelle McCarthy
O-30 Men’ Singles Final: Chalitha Ranjana lost 0-3 to Yi-sien Lin
Open Mixed Doubles: Chalitha Ranjana-Gina Liu lost 0-3 to Teng Teng Liu-Tianyi Li
Rajitha Samaraweera:
Open Doubles Final: Rajitha Samaraweera-Jae Lee won 3-0 over Kelsey Amor
Open Singles Final: Sean Hanson won 3-0 over Rajitha Samaraweera
Chalitha Ranjana, on right, took major honours in New Nealand