Record number of paddlers for Ranking TT tourney
Sanjaya Ariyaratne
A record number of 830 paddlers have entered the All Island Ranking
Open Table Tennis Championship this year which will be worked off from
November 8 to 10 at S. Thomas' College, Indoor Stadium, Mount Lavinia
and conducted by the Ping Pong Academy, Pannipitiya.
There are 366 players in the women's fray and the men's category
includes 475 players. The events to be worked out are singles for boys
under 10, 12, 15, 18 and 21, men's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles
and veteran men's singles while under 10, 12, 15, 18 and under 21 girls
singles, women's singles, women's doubles and veteran women's singles.
The veteran matches will be played on November 18 at Race Course,
Colombo.
The top seed in the men's singles is Rohan Sirisena (Nugegoda Table
Tennis Club) while Indika Prasad (Seylan Bank) is the bottom seed.
Ishara Madurangi (Devananda College, Ambalangoda) emerged champion in
the women's singles last year with Kalpani Herath (MAS Intimates)
accounting for the second place.
The men's doubles top seeds are K.S.T. Lakshan and G.P.H. Sajith
while Nuwan Sampath and Indika Prasad are the bottom seeds. I. Madurangi
and Chandi Hansa are the top players in the women's doubles while Kasuni
Dilshani and Upeksha Fernando are the bottom seeds.
I. Madurangi and G.P.H. Sajith are the reigning champions in the
mixed doubles while Indika Prasad and Deepika Rodrigo are the bottom
seeds.
G.M. Liyanage and G.P.H. Sajith are the top and bottom seeds
respectively in the under 21 boys singles while I. Madurangi and Kalpani
Herath are the top and bottom seeds respectively in the girls under 21
singles. Sahanaka Ganegoda is the favourite in the under 18 singles
while Sukitha Wickramanayake is the bottom seed. Ishara Madurangi is the
top seed in the girls event while Pavithra Gimhani is the bottom seed.
The opening ceremony will be held on November 8 at the same venue at
7.30 a.m. while the closing ceremony will be held on November 10 after
the conclusion of the finals.
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