Chalitha Ranjana from Seylan Bank once again proved his power to win the men’s open title at the 64th Mercantile Table Tennis championships held at S.Thomas’ Gymnasium, Mt Lavinia. A four-time National champion, Chalitha won this major title for the ninth consecutive year.
Chalitha defeated Lakshitha Chaturanga of CDB Bank 3-0 to win the Men’s Open title while he also won the Master’s Open title defeating Nirmala Jayasinghe of MAS Holdings 3-2 in the final.
Jayasinghe who is the captain of the Sri Lanka men’s team to this year South Asian Games (SAG) in Nepal, was upset by Chalitha who played a very competitive game.
Chalitha partnered with Vinoli Silva also from Seylan Bank to clinch the Mixed Open doubles event defeating MAS Holdings pair Nirmala Jayasinghe and Kalpani Herath 3-2. The former Sri Devananda College paddler Chalitha completed his triple success in this Mercantile championship by winning the Men’s, Open Mixed double and Masters finals .
Kalpni Herath defeated Oshadee Gunasekara of Scienter Technologies 3-1 to win the Women’s Open singles while Gamini Morasas of Astron defeated N.M. Tillekaratna of Singer to win the Veteran’s singles title.
The triple champion winner said his performances once again proved his skills in this Mercantile tournament but he missed out on the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the South Asian Games this time.
“When the SAG trials was held here I was away in New Zealand for the New Zealand championships. I won three medals in New Zealand but was disappointed to miss the SAG trials. I tried to get my chance for the SAG trials but it was not favourable for me. If I had chance to take part the SAG trials definitely once again I would get a chance to take part in this SAG. Anyway I have to thank my employer Seylan Bank to giving good support to continue my TT career. I think with my experience I can do this sport by maintaining my fitness for another 2-3 years,” said Chalitha Ranjana, an experienced paddler who is coached by A.W. Anura Lal.
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