Former national greats, Buddhasiri Withanachchi and Namal Gunasekara, who have devoted much of their lives to table tennis, could be considered an ideal match the sport of ping pong is lucky to have. In a country like Sri Lanka, where most youngsters are fascinated with cricket, rugby and more interactive sports, Withanachchi and Gunasekara are [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Crafting a brighter future for Lanka’s TT

By Naushad Amit
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Former national greats, Buddhasiri Withanachchi and Namal Gunasekara, who have devoted much of their lives to table tennis, could

Buddhasiri Withanachchi and Namal Gunasekara at a coaching session- Pix by Amila Gamage

be considered an ideal match the sport of ping pong is lucky to have. In a country like Sri Lanka, where most youngsters are fascinated with cricket, rugby and more interactive sports, Withanachchi and Gunasekara are engaged in the daunting task of promoting and nurturing table tennis among youngsters. They have been involved in this tiresome yet self-pleasing trade for nearly three decades, spotting and grooming potential paddlers for the national and international stages.

Withanachchi was instrumental in inaugurating the Tibhar Sports Club- a table tennis club which has done so much for youngsters- way back in 1984. In the beginning, Withanachchi struggled with his newly-formed club but later on, with the support of life partner, Gunasekara, Tibhar SC added its training academy, which has presently expanded to three locations.

Buddhasiri expresses his views

Namal Gunasekara

“As of now the academy has over 80 players. The youngsters who attend training with us are the cream of table tennis talent, handpicked by us after conducting coaching camps. It’s highly pleasing to see potential youngsters coming out with true talent, but to be honest many of these talents go unseen unless they are well nurtured. We always take pride in what we do, through a training academy,” Withanachchi, who served as a national player for 12 years, said.

Apparently Tibhar, the name of Withanachchi’s sports club and academy, is a well-known brand in table tennis. Being a ping pong fanatic from his younger days, Withanachchi says he rarely dreamt of a life without table tennis ever since he started playing for his school, Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda, which is also Gunasekara’s alma mater. Both Withanachchi and Gunasekara learned table tennis at Dharmasoka before moving on to the national stage en route to representing Sri Lanka for many years. Withanachchi says now the time has come for him and his better half to impart their vast knowledge to youngsters who possess all the potential of making Sri Lanka proud.

“Our vision was to spot and guide youngsters in any way we possible could. Then after some time we noted that the academy was not sufficient to fulfil our intentions. So we came up with another idea, which eventually has been a success during the past eight years,” he added.

Withanachchi, after having obtained the rights to be an agent for Tibhar table tennis gear in Sri Lanka, inaugurated a tournament under the brand name. The reason behind inaugurating a novice’s open tournament according to Withanachchi was to fulfil his aim of spotting the most talented from a mass of gathered talent. For the past eight years the tournament has picked up gradually as a talent search event as well as a competition of goodwill for less privileged budding paddlers.

“The tournament today has become popular among youngsters. Even when it started it was really impressive with well over 100 entries, but the last time we hosted the competition there were over 800 participants. With this success we expect the number of participants to exceed 1,000 in a year or two,” a contented Withanachchi added.

According to the former national coach and manager, the competition promises many benefits for youngsters, ranging from skill training to sponsorships. Withanarachchi and Gunasekara, who are watchful right through the tournament, make sure that true talent is not bypassed.

“We have taken all possible steps to make this tournament livelier, so the youngsters come out with their best possible show.

Those who reach the quarterfinal stages in all age categories are guaranteed necessary sporting gear while we also identify talented but less privileged players in order to give them a better tomorrow in table tennis. There are so many of them who have succeeded through our endeavour and we are certain that this will be a continuous exercise which will help table tennis in Sri Lanka reach greater heights,” he asserted.




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