Ten year old, Sanuka Somathilake, a Grade Six student of Dharmaraja College, Kandy is a number one ranked table tennis player who is a bright prospect for the country.
He started Table Tennis under the coaching of Gamini Silva and his playing improved vastly due to the training of Hasitha Samaraweera, who is an Old Boy as well as a qualified TT trainer of the Old Rajans Table Tennis Association who has produced many Junior and Senior National TT players over the years.
In the year 2020. Sanuka was selected as the number one ranked TT player with the support of Prasad Silva, a National player attached to the School who supported Sanuka to come to this standard and he got this based on the ranking points that he gained by beating some of the leading TT players in the Under 10 age category. The coach recognized Sanuka as a gifted TT player and that he has the emotional strength to become one of the best players in the game.
Sanuka won the Under 8 and Under 10 All Island Novices tournaments and he was into the quarter finals of all Under 10 age group ranking tournament including the Junior national Table Tennis Championship in 2019. He teamed up with his College mates to reach third place in the (A Division) and Under 14 (B Division) Inter School Table Tennis Championships in the same year. Sanuka’s development in the game was severely hampered by lack of competitors in the College at National Level and due to the present pandemic situation as most TT players did not take part in competitions. He lost an opportunity to secure a place in representing Sri Lanka in Table Tennis as there were no competitions and trials to select players for the 2021 World Hopes Tournament for which the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka had to select players based on points earned from the year 2019.
However as Sanuka’s parents got an opportunity to migrate to Canada later this year for employment the Country may lose a promising Table Tennis star like Sanuka Somathilake.
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