Sharmal Dissanayake, Sri Lanka’s current Under-18 National champion, will represent the country in the Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Nanjing, China from August 16-28. Dissanayake is a student of Royal College, Colombo. The tennis competitions of Nanjing 2014 will be held at the Tennis Academy of China from August 17-24.
A total of five events, namely Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles, will be held for a total of 64 tennis players, including 32 male and 32 female players in Nanjing. The top three players / teams from each event are to be awarded the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals respectively.
“I’m proud to represent my country at this prestigious event. Under-18 athletes are taking part in these Games. We were required to have a below-250 ITF (International Tennis Federation) world junior rank to qualify for the Youth Olympics. I will take part in both Singles and Doubles. There will be around 10 athletes altogether representing Sri Lanka,” Sharmal told ‘Sunday Island’ before his departure to China.
Dissanayake successfully got through his O’Levels Examination at Royal College last year and won school colours for his exceptional sporting credentials. He represented Sri Lanka in the Davis Cup this year and is expected to take part in the Asian Games next month.
“I hope to start my pro circuit tennis next November in India. I underwent training in Frankfurt, Germany for 10 months. Then I had to rest a bit due to a back injury. I was working with a Thai coach named Bastian Suwanpradeep in Germany. There I could play with top junior players in the current circuit,” Dissanayake said.
“My worry is that I will miss the Sri Lanka Nationals this year. I could have tried for my third consecutive Under-18 title this year. It would have been a great achievement but I won’t be available for the Nationals due to the Youth Olympics.”
Dissanayake has been training under Delhi-based Indian player Ashtoush Singh. He thanked the National Olympic Committee, his Indian coach whom he said have made him realise a lot of important things in the game, his school, Udith Wickremasinghe of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, and his parents, Shiran and Fatima, for helping him excel in tennis.
Nanjing 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games will see 222 events featuring 28 sports. There will be 3,808 athletes from 204 nations/regions who will participate in this year’s Games.
