All eyes on wheelchair tennis as SL look for medals in Tokyo

He will meet Chile opponent Alexender Cataldo in the first round and his Coach Jagath Welikala expressed his confidence that Dharmasena would triumph in this game.

“We had the chance to practice at the same courts where Dharmasena will play and he was able to get the much needed match practices to compete against Japanese, Chinese and Australian players,” Welikala said. “Dharmasena plays his usual attacking game and that’s his forte and he should be able to overcome this challenge,” he stressed.

Dharmasena is presently ranked 59 in the ITF Rankings while his opponent is placed 24th in the ITF Rankings.

“This is the first time Dharmasena had got the chance to take part at the Para Games but I think he has a lot of experienced having played in some top international events,”

“He didn’t know anything about tennis when he started this sport but his dedication was always very high and he soon developed his skills with hard training.”

“Getting the chance to compete at the Paralympics is his dream come true and I am sure he will do his best to move forward,” Welikala added. Meanwhile, two other Sri Lankan competitors Mahesh Jayakody (rowing) and Sampath Bandara (archery) will also compete in their respective events today.