Fifteen year old paddler P.D. Senura Dilanka Silva was the youngest player of the Sri Lanka National Table Tennis team in the South Asian Games 2019 and is the pride of Ananda College Colombo.
He was the youngest sportsman from Ananda College Colombo who participated in the South Asian Games He was ranked number two in the open men’s category in 2019.
Senura is the eldest son of Indika Prasad and Deepika Rodrigo, well-known National paddlers in the country. His father Indika Prasad was the National runner up and represented the National Table Tennis team several times. His mother Deepika Rodrigo won the National championship nine times and has won many medals at international level.
Senura Dilanka was born in 2005. He started playing Table Tennis at the age of four in 2009 under the guidance of his father who was his first coach. Senura started Table Tennis at I & D TT Academy with his father and mother. He attended Isipathana College Colombo for primary education in 2011. He started to represent Isipathana College in the Table Tennis tournaments as a seven year old in 2012. He gave fine performances in his age level and he was the Western province under 8 ranking no. 1 in 2012 and 2013. He was the all island under 10 ranking no. 3 in mid year of 2014. He gained admission to Ananda College in 2014.i. He played Table Tennis under Nishan Perera, coach of Ananda College.
He excelled in his age level under 10 and he was the all island under 10 ranking no. 1 in 2014 and 2015. He gave an excellent display in his age level under 12 and upper age level under 15. He was the all island Under 12 ranking no. 1 and under 15 ranking no. 6 in 2016. He participated in six junior tournaments and a senior tournament in 2017. He won six titles in under 12 age level and he was runner up one time. He won the title once and runner up once, was semi finalist twice and quarter finalist twice and came within first 32 in Open category in 2017. He was the all island Under 12 ranking no. 1 and under 15 ranking no. 2 according to performances in 2017.
He participated in seven Junior tournaments and three senior tournaments in 2018. He won the under 15 championship four times, runner up twice and semi finalist once. He won the under 18 championship three times, runner up once, semi finalist once and quarter finalist one time. He was quarter finalist once and pre quarter finalist twice in the Open category. He was the all island Under 15 ranking no. 1 and under 18 ranking no. 11 in 2018.
He participated in three junior tournaments and four senior tournaments in 2019.
He won the under 15 championship once and pre quarter finalist two times. He won the under 18 championship three times. He was the champion in Open category, quarter finalist two times and pre quarter finalist once. He was the all island Under 15 ranking no. 1 and under 18 ranking no. 1 and open ranking no. 2 according to performances in 2019. He was selected to the Men’s National side for the 13th South Asian Games in 2019.
The 15 year old, participated in many International events and visited India, Thailand, Maldives, Myanmar, Indonesia and Nepal within a few years. He steered the college to the team championships.
International Achievements Senura won the Bronze medal in the Regional Hopes Week at India in 2016, won the team Silver medal in the South Asian Junior and Cadet at Maldives in 2018. Senura won the Bronze medal (Sri Lanka National team) of 13th SAF Games at Nepal in 2019 and he won the Singles Gold medal of the Regional Hopes & Cadet Week at Nepal in 2019.
International Tours Senura participated in the Junior & Cadet Open at Thailand in 2017, Indian Junior and Cadet Open at India in 2017, Thailand Junior & Cadet Open at Thailand in 2018, The Asian Junior Championship at Myanmar in 2018, Thailand Junior & Cadet Open at Thailand in 2019, 24th Asian Table Tennis Championship at Indonesia in 2019 and Oman Junior & Cadet Open at Oman in 2019.
He is grateful to . S.M. Keerthiratne, current Principal and . Kithsiri Liyanagamage former Principal of Ananda College Colombo, current and former Teacher in charges Mrs. Nayana Dandunna and Mrs. Shyamali Wijewardhane, Nishan Perera coach of the college, officials of Table Tennis Federation of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Schools Table Tennis Association, academic staff of both colleges, his teammates his parents and youngest brother Kenula and everyone who supported him. (YK)
0 comments:
Post a Comment