Sri Lanka?s Franklin in ITF Tennis team

Emmanuel was selected on the basis of his performance at the recently concluded South Asian Under-14, which was held in Sri Lanka. Emmanuel was placed 5th and 6th at the two singles tournaments and also reached the doubles finals partnering Oshada Wijemanne in the second tournament. Sri Lanka did well at the South Asian tournament when Emmannel, Amrith Rupasinghe and N.S. Nishendiran reached the last eight in both the Singles events.

Emmanuel could be considered as Sri Lanka?s most promising junior tennis player since Umesh Walloopillai, said Maxwell De Silva, General Secretary, SLTA. Walloopillai won the Asian under- 18 Championships in the mid eighties, beating Leander Paes in the final. Paes and Mahesh Bhupatthi won the Wimbledon Doubles crown two years ago. At age 13, Emmanuel is giving the under 18 boys in Sri Lanka very tough time and we will not be surprised if he upsets some of the top men?s players in the country soon, he further said. Since Emmanuel is 13, he has yet another year to play in the 14 and under tournament, and this is when we expect some impressive wins. The recruitment of a top Indian Coach to train our boys for the next two years will strengthen and also improve our coaching programme, he said.

The ITF team is being financed by the International Tennis Federation and the Grand Slam Development Fund. This fund was first established in 1985 by a donation of 100,000 pounds received from the Championships at Wimbledon to assist with the development of competitive opportunities for younger players worldwide.

In brief

Fouzie navigated by Sampath win Mighty Mini Club Rally

S.L. field a team at Lisbon

Janashakthi to sponsor Bens

Umpiring decisions and the English Journalists

By the third umpire

S.Thomas? crush Royal

By Marlon Fernandopulle

After picking up 3 for 31 in the Royal innings, Praveen Peiris stroked an unbeaten 40 off 67 balls including four boundaries to guide the Thomians to a comfortable victory in the 47th over.

Winning the toss and batting first Royal got off to a bad start loosing their opener Danusha Perera with the total on 16.They later recovered to be 78 for 2 at one stage but lost their way in the middle to slump to 96 for 6 wickets.

However thanks to some useful contributions from their tail-enders Ganganath Ratnayake (24),Menuka Keenawinna (21) and Damith Abeyagunawardene (19) the Royalists were able to reach a respectable 169 for 9 in 50 overs. Requiring to score around 3.5 runs an over the Thomians got off to a solid start to be 83 for 2 at one stage. 

But two wickets in quick succession saw the Thomians on 87 for 4. At this stage Praveen Peiris (40 n. o) and Jeevan Mendis (27) added 49 runs for the 5th wicket to take the match away from the Royalists.

Royal - 169/9 in 50 overs (Kaushika Edirisuriya 22, T. M. S. Saldin 31, Malinda Thotuwilage 13, Ganganath Ratnayake 24, Menuka Keenawinna 21, Damith Abeyagunawardene 19; Aruna Bandaranayake 1/30, Tharindu Fernando 2/30, Praveen Peiris 3/31, Denham Williams 1/24, R. Mohamed 1/29)

S. Thomas?-172/5 in 46.2 overs (Arjuna Ranawasam 39, Zakir Kanaka 20, Jeevan Mendis 27, Praveen Peiris 40 n.o, Dilshan Gunawardene 24 n.o; Malinda Thotuwilage 2/31. Sugeeha Dinushan 1/30, Damith Abeyagunawa-rdene 1/35) 
City sports round-up

Gateway in the lead

By M.Shamil Amit

The meet is being organised by Gateway International School and co-sponsored by Hatton National Bank and Dialog GSM. Gateway with 266 points are in the lead with Colombo International School a close second on 231 followed by Asian I.C with 119 while Royal Institute, Belvoir I.C, Lyceum I.C occupy fourth, fifth and sixth position. The rest are Wycherly, British, Leighton Park, Stafford Int, Aleathea Int, Gateway Kandy and St National Int.

The meet will be continuied at 8.00 a,m. today.

Match drawn at Wijerama

Dharmaraja-139 and 151(B.Weerasinghe 45, S.Gunasinghe 27, H.Ratnayake 18; Pasindu Liyanaarachchi 5 for 31, Ranjula Semein 3 for 13)

DSS-(98/3 o?night)201 for 5 dec;(Milinda de Silva 50, Udara Waruna 56, Nadika Wickremasinghe 40; M.Weerasinghe 3 for 62) and 34 for 1 at close(Kanchana Gunewardene 14 not out, Udara Waruna 14 not out) 

- MSA

Drab draw at Maradana

St Joseph?s-150 and 160 for 8 at close(D.Perumal 70, D.Morrel 50; Yahan Wickremage 3 for 43, Lakshan Fernando 3 for 39)

Ananda -(93 for 3 overnight) 160 for 8 dec. (Lakshan Fernando 35, D.Kularatne 47, N.Jayakody 36; A.Wijeratne 3 for 82, D.Perumal 2 for 48) 

-MSA

Splendid performance by Maharoof

By Bruce Maurice 

Continuing from their overnight score of 128 for 4, Richmond were bowled out for 151, with Maharoof returning the amazing figures of 8 for 22. When Wesley batted a second time, Maharoof put the Richmond attack to the sword and blasted a quick-fire 43. 

In the second innings, the visitors after sitting pretty at tea with 35 for no loss, caved in and were routed for a paltry 53 runs.

Wesley - 209 and 121 for 9 declared. (F. Maharoof 43, S. Colombage 17; U. S. Kapuge 4 for 26, W.P.G. Ravindra 2 for 15).

Richmond - 151 (M. Faizal 88 n.o. T. Weerasinghe 28, F. Maharoof 8 for 22) and 53 (M. Faizal 18, S. U. Kumara 16; F. Maharoof 2 for 19, R. Kanagasabai 4 for 8, S. Colombage 3 for 0). 

Ajith Weerakkody caps fourth consecutive two-mile sea swim

Ajith Weerakkody who won his first two titles as a young swimmer for Dolphin Aquatic Club, Ambalangoda completed the course in 36 minutes 18 seconds. He was followed closely by his brother Sampath Weerakkody representing Sri Devananda Vidyalaya in second place with a time of 36 min. 29 secs. Ajith Kumara also of Sri Devananda finished third.

In the Women?s category Bishopian Melissa returned a time of 43 min. 23 secs. Pushpa Chandani of Sri Devananda came in 24 seconds later to take second place. Last year?s winner Bonita Wimalsooriya of Ladies College returned a time of 46 mins. 46 secs. to take third places.

The juvenile Boys category was won by Kumesh Kumara (SDV). M.I. Fahim (OAC) and Harendra Ariyawardena (PSC) won second and third places respectively. Uma Kavya Dharmadasa (OAC) won the juvenile girls category followed by Mihiri Kandanarachchi (PSC) and Apeksha Wijesooriya (OAC) in second and third places.

Jan Vanden Driesen of Otters Aquatic Club who won the championship in 1967 became the oldest swimmer this year completing the course in under 60 minutes.

Sri Devananda Vidyalaya proved that Ambalangoda supremacy still exists in this 64-year-old sea swim by winning the Men?s overall championships. Ladies College won the Women?s overall championships. Sri Lanka Police who came in second overall won the Services Championships Award.

The swim though scheduled to commence at 8.30 a.m. was delayed by almost twenty minutes due to the late arrival of the Navy boat that provides support to the marshals in manning the ?turning point?.

Bank of Ceylon were the sponsors of the event with Master Divers (Pvt) Ltd., and Mount Lavinia Hotel as the co-sponsors. The Air Force provided the communication equipment while the Navy and Police provided the patrol boats for this event organized by the National Amateur Aquatic Sports Union of Sri Lanka (NAASU).

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