ISLAMABAD - Sri Lankan junior Table Tennis team is aiming to rewrite history books and take a step further to win gold medals in both male and female team and individual categories.
While talking exclusively with The Nation top Sri Lankan junior U-18 player Prasad Desilva said: “It is my 5th junior international event and first trip to Pakistan and I want to make it a very memorable one. I had played events in India, Qatar and Thailand and won silver medals in 2012 and 2013 in team event and bronze medal in singles even.t I am a student and spare three hours daily from my studies to practice. I love table tennis and I have no interest in cricket like other countrymen. I had always dream of winning international medals for the country. I would love to win gold medal in singles, team and doubles event. I know we will face tough competition from not only powerful Indian players but also from hosts, as we have heard Pakistani players are in great shape.”
While sharing her views top Sri Lankan U-18 female player Ruvini Kannangara said: “I had represented country in eight international events and this is my first ever visit to Pakistan. I had won 2 silver medals in 2012 and 1 bronze in South Asian Junior Games in 2013 and also 1 silver medal in the same Games. We had trained for 10-days during a camp established in Sri Lanka prior to the competition. I think that hard training will help us a great deal. I consider Indians as our toughest opponents, but we will not take any opponent lightly.”
Sharing his views Sri Lankan coach Chathura Dushan said his team had great chances of winning gold medals in both male and female categories as all the players were purely selected on merit after trials. “We had won silver and bronze medals in the past but this time around we are aiming high and set our sights on winning golds.”
While sharing his views manager of Sri Lankan team Manura Fernando said he was quite satisfied with the arrangements and accommodation being provided to them. “It is beyond my expectations. I would like to thank PTTF and PSB. Especially the food supplied to us is of high quality. We have traveled from Karachi to Islamabad and enjoyed respect and love from Pakistanis all the way. We will take a lot of sweet memories from Pakistan and cherish these moments for the rest of our lives.