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Athukorale given top seed status for junior tennis nationals
By Shamseer Jaleel
Sanka Athukorale was accorded top seed status in the ongoing Prudential Assurance-sponsored Junior National Tennis Championship, the forerunner to the 90th Lafarge Cement senior National Championship which started at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts at GreenPath.

President’s College, Rajagiriya, student’s tally of 976 junior ranking points earned him top position in the under 18 singles event, while CIS (Colombo International School) student Rukmal Cooray, with 713 points, was made bottom seed. Royal Institute student Shashivaran Sabananthan (575) and Anandian Dinusha Wijesuriya (438) were seeded third and fourth respectively.
But one player not among the seeds, S Nishenderan, cannot be ruled out of the race for the tournament’s plum title.

The S. Thomas College student has been an infrequent participant this year and hence didn’t muster the ranking points required to be among the seeds. But Nishenderan is rich in experience having played in many junior international tournaments last season.

With the country’s foremost junior player, Oshada Wijemanne, 17, deciding to opt out of the Prudential event so as to concentrate on his bid for the Lafarge national singles title, the battle for the under 18 title should provide lively competition.

The championship has attracted 280 entries and nearly 600 matches are to be played. The second SAGT-sponsored Wheelchair Tennis Championship is also being held alongside the Junior Nationals.

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