Sri Lankan born Adithhya Karunaratne is going great guns in Hong Kong China as she has done proud by her motherland by being able to be ranked as number one in the Under 10 Girl’s category after winning a major junior tennis tournament conducted by the Hong Kong National Tennis Association recently.
In early March this year nine year old Adithya had the honour of emerging as the runner up in the junior nationals when she lost in a cliff hanger in a four hour three set of the final played in that age group.
But she bounced back and consolidated her defeat when she took sweet revenge by defeating the national champion to whom she lost in the final of the first national ranking tournament which was held a month later.
In a email interview Adithya’s father Lloyd and her coach Benny Lin said that her achievement is something remarkable in many aspects and she is the only Sri Lankan girl to compete in the powerful Chinese region who are producing sportsmen and women in plentiful.
Lloyd further added that Adithya is also the only foreign player to reach the ranking tournament as number one where as in the other age groups the number one position is being held by the local players.
Coach Benny Lin was of the view that Adithya is a very rare breed who pushes herself by training hard and also puts in so much dedication which has been her forte for her success. Benny further added that when she came over to Hong Kong five years back I saw that she has the potential to become a champion and took her under his wings. “She never disappointed me as through sheer determination she began her campaign two years ago (2009) in the novices ranking tournament in the Under 8 category,” said Benny.
She has superb talent and is shaping to like some of the top known tennis players around the globe. Continuing Benny said, “Adithya’s approach to the game is more advanced that a player at Under 10 level and one of the top players in the Asian group in her age group.
Currently we are working on implementing the fundamentals of modern game and I am confident that she will win more tournaments in the future. We are also working on the five major tournaments to be held within the course of this year and the Grand Masters tournament to be held end of this year.
Her main challenge will be to avoid injuries and we are also thinking to increase her tournament participation in the region by 20 per cent and are also looking forward to see that she participates in tournaments outside Hong Kong which is essential for her if she hopes to go to greater heights.”
Adithya’s faher Lloyd said the turning point of her tennis career was the lucrative sponsor her elder sister Yasodara received four years ago which today has been a blessing in disguise.
Apart from that Lloyd and his wife Gothami who is based in Hong Kong have taken great pains to guide the two sisters to reach this level. For Adithya they spend a considerable amount of money every month which is over Rs. 300, 000/- and they don’t repent as Adithya has so far fulfilled their wishes.
It’s not going to be easy for Sri Lanka who are ranked lower than Zone 1 in Asian tennis to compete at this level. It’s an extremely tough competitive environment. Japan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Thailand, Indoesia and India are graded as Zone 1 tennis playing nations in the Asian region.
In the team events Sri Lanka cannot compete directly with the Zone 1 countries without being qualified in pre-qualifying tournaments. From the recently concluded tournaments statistics show where Sri Lanka stands in contrast to the performances of the Zone 1 playing countries this year.
This year the Hong Kong junior Davis Cup team beat China, Indonesia and Philippines to qualify for the World finals along with Australia, Japan and Thailand while Sri Lanka was placed 14th out of 16 in the qualifying tournament.
In a much tough competition the Junior Federation Cup Hong Kong was placed tenth though defeating though defeating China and Chinese Taipei while Sri Lanka last out of the 16 countries that participated.
In conclusion Lloyd said Adithya’s high performance has been due to the dedication she puts in. She trains for over 15 hours a week which includes six hours on fundamental and live ball drills, three hours of dead ball drills and footwork and two hours of individual training and match play.
These kind of training are essential if any tennis play has any aim of going forward and I am happy that her effort has born fruit and we want to support and see that Adithya reaches greater heights in the future of which the father Lloyd and mother Gothami is confident of.
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