A total of nine Sri Lankans will participate in the ITF Junior Circuit Colombo series that is expected to commence on Monday, 5th of September 2016, featuring the top-ranked junior players from around the world.
The ITF Junior Circuit Week 1 which is the continuing tennis series under the International Tennis Federation will commence on the 5th of September 2016 at the Singhalese Sports Club courts while the second and third weeks will be at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts.
The Junior Circuit is the junior series that is targeted for the juniors in the under 18 categories and based on their performance, players are credited with world ranking points allowing them to move forward in the world seeding table.
Top ranked players from Chinese Taipei, Japan, Indonesia and Netherlands are expected to make the trip to Sri Lanka in the coming week ahead of the ITF Junior Circuit Week while five Sri Lankan players have enlisted themselves in the qualifying draw to gain entry to the main tournament.
In the Boys’ category, Sri Lankan under 18 champion Avindra Perera, who currently holds an ITF world ranking of 1671, is the most exciting Lankan talent to watch. The rest of the players in the boys’ contingent will be Vimalshanth Chandramohan, Vikum Jayasuriya, Nenuka Jayatileka, Sheal Karunaratne, Manal Algama, Kavisha Rathnayake, Vihan Herath and Ashen Silva.
The girls’ category has the winners of the recently concluded Senior and Junior National tournament competing on the international stage. The Women’s Open runner-up Nethmi Waduge will be the key Lankan player in the upcoming series while Under 18 title holder and Women’s Open Doubles champion Medhira Samarasinghe will be the other prospect to look out for in the coming three weeks.
The Seneviratne siblings, Anika and Alana who were the stand outs in last year’s competition will once again try their luck to finish in the top places this time as well.
The winner and the runner-up of the under 16 girls’ singles, Janali Manamperi and Nathasha Munaweera will also play in the girls’ draw along with the other Sri Lankan players such as Oneli Perera, Samadhi Jayasinghe, Savini Jayasuriya, Janali Manamperi, Senuri Alexander and Shenali Warnasuriya.
The Sri Lankan players are currently training under the Sri Lanka Davis Cup coach Dominic Utzinger and are expected to be in good shape for the start of the tournament.
