Sunday Times E-Paper

Junior TT Nationals 2020 this weekend

The Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) will conduct the Junior National Championships 2020 this weekend at the Bandaragama Indoor Stadium. The National Championships could not be held during the year 2020 as the country was in lockdowns several times and sports activities could not be held.

The TTASL attempted on several occasions to conduct the tournament whenever these lockdowns ended but were unable since of health and safety concerns as the events are competed by schoolchildren.

Due to the pandemic, the tournament committee of TTASL till now has been struggling to complete the tournaments of year 2020 and will commence the 2021 tournaments only after this.

The age group events that will be conducted are Boys and Girls Under-10, 12, 15 and 18. The Under-10 and Under-12 events will be held after a lapse of two years as these age group events were not held during the year.

Two Under-15 and Under-18 tournaments were held since the players were of matured age and can understand the safety rules that they were to abide. A total number of 270 players comprising of 145 boys and 135 girls, will compete to be crowned the national champion in their respective age group.

The TTASL and its tournament committee headed by Buddika Niyarepola, have taken several measures to ensure the safety of the players, coaches and all officials. Amongst which, parents and spectators will not be permitted inside the hall in order to minimise the crowd inside the tournament hall.

Players and coaches will be required to maintain a distance of 1-metre and wear their masks whenever not in competition. The President of the TTASL and President of the South Asian Region TT Federation, Kanaka Herath has been instrumental to get the competitions going and to get the children

actively engaged in sports.

The following are the seedlings of the players as per the data available since competitions were not held in certain age group categories as mentioned.

SPORTS

en-lk

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

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