Big seeds dominate Chrys Gunaratne TT

By Aubrey Kuruppu

The big seeds - Thilina and Wijedasa, Kalpani Herath and Deepika Rodrigo figured prominently when the Chrys Gunaratne Memorial Table Tenis Tournament continued at the Peradeniya University Gymnasium yesterday.

Thilina whobeat Nuwan Sampath will meet Buddika Walagampola in the men’s open final. Walagampola (Royal) beat the higher ranked Chalitha Rangana in his semi final by 4 sets to 1.

Deepika Rodrigo set up an intriguing semi final clash with Kalpani Herath while Ishara Madurangi will meet Dinooshi Manojika in an all Devananda clash.

Ishani Madurangi disposed of Ruwini Weerasekera by 3 sets to 2 in one of the better matches of the day. Ishara of Devananda had her work cut out in defeating the Mahamaya girl in the quarter final of the under 18 girl’s event.

Namal Gunasekera, as expected, got the better of Amara Chandratilleka in the veteran’s event.

Kalpana Herath and Shanika Silva defeated Saranga de Silva and Maulie Pieris in their women’s doubles quarter final matches.

In the under 10 final which was an all Dharmasoka affair, Umaya Tharaki beat Kushini Ransara. Nuwani Navodra claimed the girl’s under12 event by defeating J. Kalkawela of Southlands.

Thilina Piyadasa partnered by D.N.B. Jayasinghe got the better of A.C. Tillekaratne and C.T. Liyanage in the men’s open doubles event, while Indika Prasad and partner Nuwan Sampath conceded a walkover to the Samaraweera brothers, Hasitha and Rajitha. The reason for the walk over was that Indika Prasad was feeling the effects of his recent attack of chikungunya.