Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Rajiva to bid farewell to sports at Mercantile TT Tourney

- BY SUSIL PREMALAL

Veteran sportsman Rajiva Wijetunga will bid farewell to sports after competing in the Mercantile Table Tennis League Championsh­ips which will conclude tomorrow (November 9) at the S. Thomas’ College Indoor Stadium in Mount Lavinia.

Wijetunga, an Old Royalist played cricket, table tennis and athletics and was a school level coloursman.

This time he will complete 40 years in the Mercantile Table Tennis arena. In fact, he has been participat­ing in Mercantile Table Tennis Tournament­s since 1979.

He has also completed 35 years in Mercantile Athletics having won 25 Internatio­nal Medals for Sri Lanka.

He represente­d the Royal College First XI Cricket Team as an opening bowler from 1977 to 1979 and was also a member of the Royalthomi­an Centenary Big Match encounter.

Wijetunga was a triple coloursman having received Royal College Colours for cricket, athletics and table tennis during his tenure at school.the 60-year-old is also a veteran sports administra­tor and is currently functionin­g as the HR and Admin Manager at Unichela (Private) Limited,tulhiriya Division.

Wijetunga is the only Sri Lankan to win an individual medal at the World Masters’ Games for Table Tennis in 2005. He was a Member of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) in the year 2007/2008 and was appointed Chief-of-mission of the Sri Lankan Contingent for the third Commonweal­th Youth Games in Pune, India (2008). Wijetunga has served as the President of the Table Tennis Associatio­n of Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2009, and thereafter, he was appointed as the President of the Mercantile Table Tennis Associatio­n from 2013 to 2015.

 ??  ?? Rajiva Wijetunga
Rajiva Wijetunga

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