Bimandee Bandara a paddler par excellence

On Jul 11, 2021

Sixteen year old Bimandee Bandara of Hillwood College Kandy is a talented Table Tennis player. Bimandee started playing table tennis when she was five years old under the coaching of Sampath Rajapaksa because her elder brother used to play table tennis at school.

Bimandee Swarna Sri Bandara was born on 25th June, 2005 at Kegalle. She completed her primary education from Sussex International School Kegalle. At the age of six, she became the runner up in the under 8 girls event at 7th Tibhar All Island Novices Table Tennis Championship in 2011. That was her first achievement in an All Island Tournament.

Bimandee was placed first in both under 10, 12 girls events and became the most outstanding player in the St. John’s College All Island Junior Ranking Table Tennis Championship 2015. This is one of the greatest achievements in her career. Afterwards she became the under 10 girls champion in the Junior National Table Tennis Championship 2015. At the end of 2015, she was the number 1 in the under 10 girls category in Sri Lanka.

She practiced with Drashana Pradeep school coach and Thushara Sampath at the same time. Her school coach . Drashana Pradeep introduced her to . Buddhika Dikkumbura and practiced with . Gayan Liyanage from 2014. She attended Hillwood College Kandy in 2016 and is currently studying in grade 11. She was also adjudged the best upcoming player in the Andro Sports Awards Ceremony in the year 2016. She performed under the school coach Mrs. Chandima Abeyratne and currently her school coach is . D.M.G.S Kumara.

Bimandee was 12 years old, for the first time she qualified to represent Sri Lanka as the no. 1 player at the Regional Hopes week 2016 (south Asia) held in Pune, Maharashtra India.

Bimandee became the champion in the under 12 girls event and the under 18 mixed doubles event in the Junior National Table Tennis Championship 2017. She was awarded Colours at the School Colours awarding ceremony 2017. She was the number one in the under 12 girls category in Sri Lanka 2017. She participated in the SET Thailand Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Championships in 2018 and 2019. Thereafter she became the under 15 girls Champion and the Open women’s champion for the first time in her life. It was in the Kanaka Herath All Island Ranking Table Tennis Championships in 2018. She also became the best womens player in the tournament.

Furthermore she became the Bronze medalist in the women’s category at the XLIV National Sports Festival in 2018. After that she became the champion in the under 15 girls event in the Junior National Table Tennis Championship 2018. Afterwards for the first time in her life she became the Women’s National Champion in the 73rd National Table Tennis Championship held in 2019.

She became the runner up in the doubles and the mixed doubles event. She became the best player of the tournament. She was able to become the National Champion at the age of 14 years. This is one of the greatest

achievements in her life. In 2019, When she was 14 years old, she represented Sri Lanka for the first time with the National Team. It was at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship 2019 which was held in Odisha, India. Sri Lanka was placed 8th in the Women’s Team event.

She also participated in a one month training camp in India preparing for the South Asian Games. In the same year she qualified to represent Sri Lanka as the number 2 player in the 13th South Asian Games which was held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

She was also the youngest table tennis player at the South Asian Games 2019. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed positive with Dengue in Nepal and she couldn’t compete in the match. Sri Lanka was placed second in the women’s team event and could win a silver medal for Sri Lanka.

After a period of recovery she slowly started practicing and preparing for tournaments. Thereafter she became the champion in the under 15 girls event, runner up in the under 18 girls event and the open women’s event in the 15th Tibhar Sports club All Island Open Ranking Table Tennis

Championship 2019. She also became the most outstanding womens player in the tournament in 2020. She became the champion in the under 15 girls event and the runner up in under 18 girls event, girls doubles and mixed doubles in the Junior National Table Tennis Championship held in 2020.

She also became the best player of the tournament. Thereafter she became the quarter finalist in the open women’s event, runner up in the women’s doubles event and the champion in the mixed doubles event in the National Table Tennis Championship held in 2020.

She was awarded colours from the zonal colours awarding ceremony in Kandy. Thereafter she became the champion in the under 15 and 18 girls events and became the quarter finalist in the open event in the Sabaragamuwa Province All Island Open Ranking Table Tennis Championship held in 2021.

She also became the champion in under 15 and under 18 events in the All Island Junior Ranking Table Tennis Championship held in 2021. She received a scholarship from the National Olympic Committee named the Crysbro NOC SL Next Champ. She is currently No. 1 in girls under 15 and under 18 events and also ranked top among the women’s players in the Open women’s event. Her aim is to bring Gold medals to Sri Lanka from both South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships and South Asian Games. (YK)