Champion paddler Senura misses out CWG trials
Under the guidance of his parents, Senura has shown immense progress at a very young age
Sri Lanka’s ace paddler Senura Silva, has missed out the final has missed out the final selection trials for the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, as he is currently sitting for the GCE Ordinary Level examination. The said selection trials to select the final table tennis team for CWG 2022 was held last Sunday and Monday, May 29 and 30, at the Sports Ministry Indoor Courts, and Senura had to forego the trials as he had the mathematic exam on Monday.
A student of Ananda College, Colombo, Senura (16) also had not been informed promptly by the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL), according to his close family members. Senura had won twin titles already and is a promising paddlers who has potential to win international medals. Currently, he is the National Championship runner-up and also is the Junior National title holder. He won the Junior title in 2020. According to present National rankings, he is the second seed.
Earlier this year, Senura won the All-Island Arya Plus Open Challenge Table Tennis Championship organised by the Nugegoda Table Tennis Association in January, while In March he won the Maheepala Herath Challenge Trophy organised by the Kegalle District Table Tennis Association. In both events, he was named the Outstanding Player of the Tournament.
His parents, however, point the finger in the TTASL for failing to promptly inform the player as he had got to know about the trials in the eleventh hour. Even if he was informed in time, Senura’s parents stated that he would not be able to take part due to the GCE O/L examination.
Based on his present status, as the second seed paddler in Sri Lanka, his parents are of the view that TTASL could have made an exemption given the reason that Senura was facing an important hurdle of his academic career. The parents had already made a written request to the General Secretary of TTASL in this regard, but they are yet to receive a response.
“The General Secretary of TTASL told us that an email has been sent to Senura informing of the trials. But the child is sitting for the GCE O/L exam, which is a widely known fact. Of what we got to know, all other players are above 18 years of age, and Senura is still 16, He takes decisions after consulting us as parents. The Secretary of TTASL could have at least informed us or the school with regard to the trials,” Senura’s mother Deepika Rodirgo, a former National table tennis champion, said.
“The same incident happened during the selection of the South Asian TT Championship. Senura has won both the National and Junior National titles, and still the TTASL want all players to go through a trial process, which is in a way absurd. We didn’t want to take a risk of him foregoing the important examination, by committing his time on training sessions and trials at this juncture. He is a good player and has proven his credentials,” former National table tennis champion Indika Prasad, Senura’s father said.