Senul Ratnayake a talented table tennis player
Twelve year old,Senul Ratnayake, a student of Dharmaraja College,Kandy is a talented Table Tennis player and he has been selected to represent Sri Lanka at the International Table Tennis Federation World Hopes TT Challenge week to be held in Jordan in December 2021 and his selection was made by the ITTF Panel of Judges.
His father has stated that this is the first time a School boy has been selected for this under 12 Global event and he was selected after his superb performances In the qualification Programme. Only twenty boys have been globally qualified out of twenty Countries with only four Asian TT players to this prestigious event and
he had to train with a lot of hardships as the Country was locked down for some time, and his hardwork and enthusiasm to follow the initial stages of the Programme has paved the path for him to take part in the World Event where TT players from all Nationalities will compete. Senul has represented the Country in the Sri lanka Junior TT tournament as the Youngest player of the team at the ITTF World Junior Raking TT tournament held in Oman in October,2021 and he obtained thirteen points at this event and he was selected to the under 13 as the 67th player of the World Ranking and he is the current Sri Lanka ranking number one paddler in the under twelve category.
He will benefit immensely from this Programme and develop his skills in the game of Table Tennis as this Programme is conducted by the Foreign Experts and his Parents think that this will be a good opportunity for him to climb greater heights in his sporting and personnel endeavours.
In the year 2019 Senul won the TT Championship in the Under ten age group at the All Island Ranking Tibhar TT tournament and In the Under Twelve category at the all Island Novices Friendship TT tournament, held in the same year he became Runner-up. He captained the Dharmaraja college Under ten TT team and they reached the Semi-finals at the Inter School TT championship in 2019. In 2018 he became the Under Ten Champion at the All Island Ranked TT Tournament and in 2017 he was the Under eight TT Champion at the Central Province TT Tournament and was awarded. The ‘Rajans Maroons’ at the Award Ceremony for two consecutive years at the ‘Colors Nite’ of the School in 2018 & 2019. Senul was appointed as the Senior Prefect of the Primary Section and a member of the Rajans Model of United Nations(RMUN).
Senul’s intention is to continue Table Tennis to the highest level and he is thankful to his parents as the well as the TT Coaches and other members of the School for the encouragement given to him.