Questions galore over TT selections
View(s):Questions have been made galore over the selection of Supuna Warusavithana as replacement for Rohan Sirisena who withdrew from next month’s Commonwealth Games in England for reasons best known to top officials. Table tennis initially had one slot in Singles, with the country’s top seed Sirisena earning automatic entry, but after the last minute withdrawal of another participating nation, table tennis officials here were given the greenlight to select a team of five including a standby.
Accordingly the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) conducted a trial to select the players. However despite picking four players after the trial, the TTASL has parachuted Warusavithana to replace Sirisena, even though the former is not among the top ranks in Sri Lanka.
Sirisena’s slot was guaranteed and sponsored by the state and following his withdrawal the place has been given to Warusavithana, who has not even participated at the selection trials conducted by TTASL on May 29 and 30 at the Sports Ministry Indoor Courts.
Adding more questions, the remaining four paddlers, including the standby player, have been asked to finance their expenditures in order to take part in the Games while Warusavithana will enjoy a free ride to England.
“Sri Lanka had one slot in Singles. But when a country withdrew, we were awarded that slot. The National Olympic Committee (NOC) and TTASL knew the development, and we acted on their instructions. Warusavithana did not take part in the trials because he knew he was replacing Sirisena, and the names of the rest who were selected, have been sent to the NOC, based on the performances at the trials,” a top official of TTASL stated.
However, experts believe Warusavithana should have faced the trial in order to earn selection for the Singles event.
Warusavithana had not taken part in the trials upon instructions of TTASL, and experts firmly say that the process was totally erroneous. Seven players had taken part in the trial and the three selected to represent Sri Lanka were Krishan Wickramaratne, Chameera Ginige and Milinda Lakshitha, while Nuwantha Niroshana, who was placed fourth at trials, is the standby player.
Chathura Dulshan, the national table tennis coach, further explaining on the issue, said that Warusavithana had not been part of the national training sessions and programmes that were held recently. He is ranked sixth. Warusavithana had participated in three All-Island competitions and had won one so far this year. He was also not a member of the Sri Lanka team that participated in the Asian Table Tennis Championship 2021 held in Qatar, as he could not attend the trial to select the final team.
Despite ranking second in 2020 nationally, Warusavithana had failed to impress during 2021, and experts say that TTASL’s decision to parachute him for the CWG 2022 is questionable. The current second seed, Senura Silva (16), a top ranked national player, as well as the current national junior champion, was not given proper notification about the trials. This list includes a number of other top ranked players, who experts say that TTASL decided to show a blind eye for reasons better known to them.