Table Tennis: Udaya wins double crown at 69th National Championship

Table Tennis sensation from the hill capital Udaya Ranasinghe won the Double Crown at the 69th National Table Tennis championship at the St. Thomas’ College Indoor Stadium tables last weekend.

Udaya Ranasinghe making amendments for his defeat at the hands of schoolmate Krishan Wickremaratne at the Junior TT Nationals recently came back strongly, displaying top quality Table Tennis right throughout the tournament and it was visible from the first round games that Udaya is sure to sail to the championship without any difficulty.

In the Men’s Singles finals Udaya beat Prasad De Silva 4-1 to register his third national title and in the Men’s Doubles partnered by Nirmala Jayasinghe fought all the way to defeat Rohan Sirisena and Milinda Lakshitha combination with register a close 3-2 victory.

Nuwani Navodya scored a cake-walk 4-0 victory over Ridmi Karandanarachchi to win her maiden national title in the Women’s Singles finals. 

Nuwani troubled her opponent with strong smashes on both flanks and defended the attacks of Ridmi giving no chance for the opponent to cut loose.

Youngsters dominated in this edition of the championship with most of the senior players who had won the championship on earlier occasions tasted defeat at the hands of these up and coming youngsters which signalled the bright future for table tennis that lay ahead.

Ruwan Chandra, Director General of Sports was the chief guest while Saurabh Gupta, Manager exports, STAG International India graced the occasion as the guest-of-honour.

Final Results:

Men’s Singles: Udaya Ranasinghe beat Prasad De Silva 4-1

Women’s Singles: Nuwani Navodya beat Ridmi Karadanarachchi 4-0

Men’s Doubles: Udaya Ranasinghe and Nirmala Jayasinghe beat Rohan Sirisena and Milinda Lakshitha 3-2

Women’s Doubles: Hansani Piumika and Chamatsara Fernando beat Nuwani Vithanage and Imasha De Silva 3-1

Mixed Doubles: Kulanka Hendahewa and Chamathsara Fernando beat Nimesh Ranchagoda and Ruwani Kannangara 3-1

Consolation Women: Samadhi Hettiarachchi beat Ashika Sathsarani 2-0