After three exciting action packed weeks, Sri Lanka’s premiere tennis fixture, the Colombo Championships concluded a few days back.
The contest being one of the two premiere clay court tournaments in the country lived up to the expectations when it came to action where the series saw the emergence of new talent as well as a few major upsets during its course. The overseas factor played a key role in the tournament crafting almost all of the major upsets in the championship.
Mens Open
The highly anticipated Men’s open was the highlight of the entire tournament as the Sri Lankan grit was no match to that of our neighbouring Pakistan and India. This is evident where it was a battle between the arch rival nations Pakistan and India as Heera Ashiq took on Ashwin Vijaragavan.
Earlier in the contest, Sri Lankan top seed Dineshkanthan had to give way to the ITF international seed Ashwin Vijaragavan in the semi- final losing 6-3,6-3,6-3. Ashwin had a steady entry into the finals while Pakistani Heera Ashiq had to defeat fourth seed Nishangan Nadarajah to get his ticket. The veteran Ashwin was no match for Heera Ashiq as he went on to win his first title in Sri Lanka defeating Ashiq 6-2,6-2,6-2.
It was disappointing to see no Sri Lankan making it to the final draw giving a clear indication of the talents possessed by our neighboring countries in the racket sport.
Women’s Open
The much spoken title in the championships was the Women’s title. Eighteen year old Nethmi Waduge casued the biggest upset in the tournament defeating veteran four times defending champion Amrita Muttiah in the final. The 18 year old Waduge who currently is ranked #2 in the Women’s rankings had a close fight in the second set as the national title holder fought back but it wasn’t enough to prevent Waduge from a title.
Nethmi Waduge’s route to the finals was an easy course defeating Anika Seneviratne in the semi-final clash while Muttiah had to face Thisuri Molligoda in the semis to get her ticket to the finals. It was the most exciting contest in the entire championship.
Men’s Open Doubles
The Davis Cup duo, Dineshkanthan and Sharmal Dissanayaka took home the Men’s doubles title in the premiere defeating the Sanka Athukorale Yasith de Silva duo. The Dineshkanthan Sharmal duo defeated the Ashiq brothers 6-3,6-2 in the semi-finals and later won the title with winning sets of 5-7,6-3,6-0 & 6-4.
Mixed Doubles
Yasith De Silva and Amrita Muttiah outsmarted the Dineshkanthan and Thisuri Molligoda pair to win the Mixed Doubles title 6-3,7-5. Amrita should be happy with herself after her loss in the Womens open to come back and win the Mixed doubles contest.
Dineshkanthan and Thisuri Molligoda were unlucky in the doubles contest after their easy entry to the finals.
Girls Under 18
It was icing on the cake for Nethmi Waduge when she bagged the Under 18 title defeating the 16 year old Anika Seneviratna 6-2, 7-6 and later 4-0 on break points. It was a good fight by Anika against the newly crowned Women’s title holder but Nethmi’s experience proved to be the plus point in the game.
Girls Under 16
The efforts of Anika Seneviratne did not go waste as she took her share of credit defeating Prabudhi Perera 6-2, 6-0 in the finals. Anika who earlier was the semi finalist in the Women’s open later became the runner up in the Under 18 title. She exuberates composure when it comes to the racket sport and surely will rise up the ranks in the years to come.
Other Titles
Mens Over 35 Singles : Perumal Ganeshan
Mens Over 45 Singles : K Sudarshan
Mens Over 55 Singles : R Subramaniam
Mens Over 35 Doubles : U V Nishantha & K Sudarshan
Mens Over 55 Doubles : Gerald Mendis & Angelo Patrick
Boys Under 10 Singles : Wenuka Kithnula
Boys Under 12 Singles : Sahan Weerasooriya
Boys Under 14 Singles : Thevan Perera
Boys Under 16 Singles : Avindra Perera
Boys Under 18 Singles : Cheran Fernando
Girls Under 10 Singles : Dinethya Dharmaratna
Girls Under 12 Singles: Neyara Weerawamsa
Girls Under 14 Singles : Prabudhi Perera
