What might have been

By Aubrey Kuruppu

A poet once wrote “of all sad thoughts, the saddest are what might have been” These words come readily to mind when looking back at the performance of the women TT players at the South Asian games.

Came the fight for gold and Deepika Rodrigo led the way by defeating Poulami Gatak 8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 14-12. India’s best player Mouma Das was next up and having lost the first set to Kalpani Herath, tightened up her game and used her vast experience to dispose of the teenager 12-14, 11-9, 11-9, 11-4. Sri Lanka went 2-1 up when third singles players Ishara Madurangi got the better of India’s third singles player Nandita Saha in a come-from-behind triumph 6-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8.

The stage was set for the reverse singles and Kalpana’s straight sets loss to Paulami Gatak made the tie stand at 2 all – Deepika seemed to be floundering at 7-10 in the 5th set, but bravely battered back to equalise at 10 all. The top ranked Indian Mauma Das held her nerve to go through 12-10. To Deepika’s chagrin and dismay she conceded a point off as net cord and another off the edge of the table.

There was some comment to the effect that had Ishara played in the final and not Kalpani, Sri Lanka would have won gold. Her losses were to India’s two best players. This criticism got to the teenager and, predictably, she was quite disconsolate. The team management had to do a lot of talking to get her back on the right track mentally.

Overall, the performance was quite satisfactory, this being the first occasion when we beat Pakistan in the women’s while the men had to pull out all the stops to triumph 3-2.

Thilina Piyadasa defeated Saumya Pradeep Roy in four sets but Rohan Sirisena lost to India’s leading player Sharath Kanal in straight sets. Tharindu Somaweera lost the third singles to Subhajith Saha 5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11. Two one down, everything hinged on the Thilina Piyadasa – Sharath Kanal clash. But the latter carried too many guns for Thilina who went down in straight sits 8-11, 8-11, 7-11.

In the light of the fact that the Indians are the current commonwealth games champions, Sri Lanka’s men didn’t fare all that poorly. Indika Prasad had a hundred per cent record in the games he played. Piyadasa, a little surprisingly, beat Saumya Pradeep Roy in the team event, but lost to him in the individual event.

The Sri Lankan players were housed close to the centre and the transport service provided was good. However it was disturbing to note that they were put up at a guest house. The Indians were at the Taj Samudra and the Maldivians at the Hilton.

Jagath Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan turned foreign coach, by common consent, did a fine job with the team. So much so that many, players included, felt that he would be given free rein and put in charge of the training of coaches.

Lady chaperone and pool Director Dilmini Direcksze was a tower of strength.

The tournament proper was well organised. However it was felt that the scheduling was a bit tight. If a rest day had been provided, it would have been most welcome. As the top seeds, the Indians received byes. Not so, the Sri Lankans who were a bit rushed.