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Asitha Attygala does Lanka proud

By M. Shamil Amit
Twenty seven year old Asitha Attygala is today one of the most sought after tennis official in the international tennis circuit. Since his first international assignment which was the Asian Games held in Bangkok Thailand in 1998 he has gone from strength to strength and todate has officiated in over 600 professional matches around the globe that includes matches played by world top players.

The Sunday Times had an opportunity of meeting this energetic young man who arrived on a one day stop over to Sri Lanka from Australia where he officiated in the Australian Open, in fact he had come to get his visa to Indonesia which will be his next assignment. He made available a few minutes to step into the office to speak about his past and future assignments.

He started off by saying this is going to be a hectic year for me and he was so proud to say that he has been selected by the ITF to officiate in two grand slam tournaments namely the Roland Garros (French Open) from May 21 to June 6 and Wimbledon from June 15 to July 4. He has also been selected to officiate at the forthcoming Olympics scheduled to be held in Athens from August 15 to 22. He thus becomes the only South Asian to get selected to officiate in a Olympic event.

An old boy of Ananda College he has combined both his academic career and sports with success. In sports he went on to become the number two Sri Lanka tennis player in the junior category (Under 18) but had to give up due to his studies. He came off with flying colours in his studies too and successfully completed the Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Colombo (UOC).

He said I am grateful to the authorities of UOC as they even went to the extent of postponing my exams in support of my sports career and I am glad that I did not let them down.

For a man who has officiated in the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Iran, UAE, Qatar, Bangladesh and Taipei. It has been away from home for most part of the year. But my parents don’t grumble as it is my future and they give me all the support.

While pusuring his career in umpiring he did a small stint as the Maldivian coach for two years 1997/98. He was the youngest at 19 years to pass the Level II exam and has not looked back. He has now elevated himself to the Bronze Batch which is Level III on the international tennis circuit. I was the youngest certified international tennis umpire in Asia when I completed my Level III exam in 2001.

There are only 12 certified international umpires in Asia. He said it is great to be honoured by the ITF and to be invited by various organisations around the globe to officiate in their tennis tournaments. I have now officiated in three Australian Open, two Wimbledon tennis tournaments and Davis Cup and now my ambition is to officiate in the US Open which has not come my way yet.

His next assignment is the Davis Cup tie between Indonesia and New Zealand in Indonesia due to be held this week. From there he hopes to come back to Sri Lanka for a few days to train the local tennis umpires. Speaking more about his career he said his aim is to reach the Gold Batch status and become a match referee for which the exams are be held this year. So it seems that Sri Lanka's first ever certified international tennis official is enjoying his job and is going great guns and will not stop till he reaches the peak and bring more laurels to his motherland.

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