International Table Tennis Federation Hopes Development camps concludes in Sri Lanka
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Hopes championship was held at St. Thomas Indoor Stadium on May 1.
The event was held right as a concluding part of the ITTF Hopes Development programme which was held in the last week of April at Kandy, Sri Lanka. The programme was fully supported by the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL).
The ITTF Hopes developmental training session was attended by 20 players. The course played an important role in the development of table tennis players in Sri Lanka from grassroots level. The training camp was held at Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, a newly built
indoor stadium in the South of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The training camp continued for seven days in which 10 boys and 10 girls were selected. The young paddlers were selected on their performances in the table tennis events held in 2010.
The itinerary included training camps, coach education and the tournament in which 10 boys and 10 girls were selected to compete.
The training camp was conducted under the supervision of 49-year-old coach, Dejan Papic. Dejan is currently the head coach of the ITTF World Hopes Programme. He is the most experienced coach on the international table tennis circuit.
The event was contested in two groups, with five players in each group. The players who ended on the top three seeds in each group progressed to the second stage of the event. The second stage matches were played on knock-out basis. The players who ended
at the top places will progress directly to the semi-finals. The remaining four players competed in two matches to make it to the semi-finals.
The players from Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda emerged successful on the end of the ITTF Hopes table tennis championship. Kavindya Sheshadi won the in the Girls category, as the Boy’s title was won by Charith Wiman. Both the players remained unbeaten in
all the matches they contested. They finished at the first seeds in their respective groups and ended in winning the gold.
The Girl’s final was competed amongst Sheshadi and Sheshala Bandara of St. Joseph’s BMV, Kegalle. Kavindya marked a straight victory in a match of three games scoring 11-5, 11-6, and 11-6.
In the Boy’s category, P.D.U. Tennakoon from Dharmaraja Kandy was defeated by Wiman in a match that extended to five games with a score-line of 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 17-15 and 11-7.
The winner Sheshadi and Wiman will be sent to the Werner Schlager Academy at Vienna in June for one week. The head coach of ITTF Dejan said, “In Sri Lanka no sport can match the progress that is being made by table tennis, thanks very largely to the tireless
efforts of Chandana Perera, the former Secretary of TTASL”
The Hopes development programme was another complete success for the ITTF in Sri Lanka and the federation is looking to hold more training camps around various countries in the coming months.
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