Krishan outsmarts Senura to win Men’s Singles title
Old Vidyartha's Krishan Wickramaratne receives the trophy
Krishan Wickramaratne of Old Vidyartha Sports Club outsmarted Ananda College’s Senura Silva 3-1 to clinch the Men’s Single title of the All-Island Table Tennis Tournament played for the Mahipala Herath Challenge Trophy.
Krishan did not get the start he expected as the first set looked highly intense before he claimed it 12/10. With that motivation Krishan went on to claim the second set 11/6, but he was given a tough challenge in the third set. Anandian Senura claimed the third set 11/6, making an indication that he is ready for a challenge though he had to clearly record wins in the coming two sets. But Krishan made sure the game ends up early and in his favour, by claiming the fourth set 11/9.
Krishan qualified for the final after beating Milinda Lakshitha of OMBC Solutions in the semi-final which also ended in a 3-1 thriller. Krishan claimed the first two sets 11/8, 11/9 before losing the third set 14/16 after a hard-fought battle. The fourth set too went down to the wire, with it dragging down to end at 17/15 in favour of Krishan.
Senura, who recently became a recipient of a sponsorship by Crysbro under the ‘Next Olympic Hope’ programme initiated by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, outsmarted Chameera Ginige of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, in straight sets in the other semi-final. Senura recorded the win by 11/5, 11/6 and 12/10.
Ananda College's Senura Silva had to settle as second best
Though the Doubles event was originally planned, decision was taken to remove this event due to close proximity of players. The Men’s Singles event was held last Sunday, January 31 where a total of 103 players competed.
The Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka, spearheaded by its president, Kanaka Herath, the State Minister of Plantation, launched an ambitious programme to conduct all the events of 2020 that could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister is also the president of the Kegalle District Table Tennis Association.
The organisers ensured that all safety measures were taken to safeguard the competing players and match officials. In doing so, only the players were permitted to enter the hall players and had to maintain a safe distance from each other.
Minister of Sports, Namal Rajapaksa, made a special visit to the venue, the Kegalle Municipal Council Indoor Stadium, to witness the reactivation of the game.
Kanaka Herath was the chief guest at the final and distributed certificates to players reaching quarter-finals onwards and gave away the challenge trophies to the winner and runners-up.
The champion and runners-up received their trophies and cash prizes from the chief guest.
Also present at the awards ceremony were Saman Rathnayake (Commissioner of Elections), Sameera Perera (VP Kegalle District TTA and Member of the Municipal Council), Chandana Srinath (Hony Secretary TTASL) and Jagath Jayasinghe (Chairman, Kegalle Provincial Council).