The Koreans continued their domination of the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tournaments held in Sri Lanka as their players put on a brilliant display of Tennis at the SSC International Wheelchair Tennis Open which came to a close on the 27th of March 2014.
Former World No. 11 Ha Gel Lee completed a double as he secured victories in both the men’s singles and doubles events. The Korean defeated the champion of the Sri Lanka open tournament Sang-Ho Oh and the 2nd seed of the tournament Leon Els en route to the singles final. He faced the Sri Lankan No.02 Upali Rajakaruna who created a massive upset by defeating the current Sri Lanka No. 01 Gamini Dissanayake in the Semi Finals. Dissanayake himself had his moment of glory, when he defeated the top seed of the tournament Keegan Oh-Chee from Australia in straight sets.
The local supporters were expecting great things from Rajakaruna who had played exceedingly well throughout the course of the tournament. However, he was unable to rattle a solid defense as well as the aggression and speed displayed by the talented Korean Ha Gel Lee. The final score was 6/1 6/3 as Rajakaruna went down in straight sets.
The Korean brilliance was show cased once again through their star player Lee who teamed up with Han Sung-Bong to win the doubles. Lee who partnered Sang-Hong Oh to win the Sri Lanka open doubles event was able to win his second successive doubles tournament. The duo of Lee and Bong defeated the Lankan combination of Gamini Dissanayake and Upali Rajakaruna in the finals. The Sri Lankans who came nail bitingly close to winning the first tournament of the series which was the Sri Lanka Open, suffered the same fate as they went down fighting with a score line that read 6-1 3-6 10-8 in favour of the Koreans. Han and Lee were in fine form throughout the course of the event as they failed to drop a single set up until the final and their teamwork and experience proved to be the deciding factor as they went on to achieve victory.
The womens singles was a one sided event as Sarah Calati from Australia faced off against Thondalwethu Hlatswayo from South Africa. The two met in the Sri Lanka Open womens singles finals and the match was won easily by the strong Australian. There were to be no twists in the tale as the top seed Calati powered her way through to victory with a simple 6-0 6-2 win.
The success stories for the Koreans as well as Calati from Australia continued into the second ITF Wheelchair tournament. The final tournament which is scheduled to be played in Negambo this weekend will be extremely interesting. The Sri Lankans Rajakaruna and Dissanayake will also hope to bag some silverware and bring glory to this island nation.
