Lankan Paddlers return empty handed
The Sri Lanka Table Tennis team returned to the island empty handed from the World TT Championship 2017 in Dusseldorf, Germany, held from May 29 to June 5.
All the Lankan paddlers failed to go beyond the qualifying stage, as almost every single competitor was defeated in the Singles, Doubles and Mixed events of both Men and Women. The only Sri Lankan win was when Chalitha Ranjana beat Doufesh of Palestine 4- 2 in Round one of the Men's Singles, but went down tamely in Round two, 4- 0 to Olivaves Felipe of Chile.
Though much was expected from South Asian Games Gold medal winner Udaya Ranasinghe, he never lived up to his reputation, and was beaten in both Men's Singles he played. His only win was against Ali Kanate of Cote D'Ivoire. Experienced Sri Lanka captain Rohan Sirisena partnering Milinda Lakshitha in the Men's Doubles, went down fighting 3- 2 to Macao pair Chang Hoi Wa and Cheong.
Ishara Madurangi displayed superb Table Tennis craft in the Women's singles Preliminary match and went down fighting 2-4 against Oliver Leila of Portugal, while Erandi Warusawithana scored an easy 4- 1 win over Orahilly of Ireland.
Ishara Madurangi and Nuwani Navidya rallied after losing the first set in the Women's Doubles event against Cubans Idalys and Rodriguez, to come back strongly and win the second and third sets. The Cubans made amends to overcome the Lankan pair under 10 in the deciding two sets.
Tour Manager Chandana Perera, when contacted by the Sunday Times said that, knowing the toughness of the tournament, our junior and senior players practice together for over two months. As this is an individual event, every player plays the hardest way to gain higher positions in the world rankings. Failing to match the speed and power of ranked was the downfall of our players.
Udaya Ranasinghe lost to Ali Kanate (Cote D'Ivoire) 1-4; Lost to N.G. Nam 0-4
Milinda Lakshitha received a walk-over from Mohommadian Hussain (Afghanistan); lost to Aguirre Macerlo (Paraguay) 0-4
Chalitha Ranjana beat Doufesh Husam (Palestine) 4-2; lost to Olivares Felipe (Chile) 0-4
Udaya Ranasinghe-Nirmala Jayasinghe lost to Gommers R (Netherland)-Cheong C (Macao) 1-3
Milinda Lakshitha-Rohan Sirisena lost to Chang Hoi Wa-Cheong C (Macao) 2-3
Ishara Madurangi lost toLu Wang (Macau China) 0-4; lost to Oliver Leila (Portugal) 2-4
Hansani Piumila lost to Ono Rizumu (Phillippines) 0-4; lost to Oshonaike Olufunke (Nigeria) 1-4
Erandi Warusawithana beat Orahilly Egan (Ireland) 4-1; lost to Chen Xingtai (Azerbijan) 1-4
Ishara Madurangi-Nuwani Navidya lost to Lovel Idalys-L. Rodriguez (Cuba) 2-3 (4-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11)
Hansani Piumila-Erandi Warusawithana lost to R. Gufranova-Olga Kim (Uzbekistan) 0-3 (9-11, 1-11, 3-11)
Ishara Madurangi-Rohan Sirisena lost to McCreery Paul-E. O'Rahilly (Ireland) 1-3 (9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 12-14)
Udaya Ranasinghe-Ruvini Kannangara lost to Chang Hoi-Chang Weng (Macau China) 0-3 (6-11, 3-11, 10-12)