Paralympian Dharmasena overcomes first hurdle
Sri Lanka’s directly qualified wheelchair tennis player, Suresh Dharmasena, made a strong start at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, defeating Josef Riegler of Austria in the first round of the Wheelchair Men’s Singles match held at the iconic Roland Garros yesterday.
Dharmasena, the only wheelchair tennis player representing Sri Lanka this year, won by 2-0. He dominated the game with a 6-1 win in the first set, followed by a 6-3 triumph in the second set. This victory propels him into the second round, where he will face a challenging opponent from Great Britain.
“I won the first round match, and now I’ll be up against the World No.5 player, who won the bronze medal in the last Tokyo Paralympics and the gold medal in Rio. If I can beat him, I’ll have a huge chance to go further and win a medal,” said Dharmasena, currently ranked 34th in the world. In other events, Pradeep Somasiri finished 10th overall in the T46 1500m event, clocking a time of 4:01.84. Earlier, swimmer Naveed Raheem also finished 10th in the Men’s S9 400m Freestyle, with a time of 4:42.71. Raheem was the only Sri Lankan swimmer to qualify directly for the Paralympics.
Today, apart from Dharmasena’s match, runner Prasanna Jayalath will compete in the T42 Men’s 100m heats.