Rukshika runners-up at 2013 Qatar Asian Junior U14

Thursday, 14 March 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

One of Sri Lanka’s upcoming talents in tennis, Rukshika Wijesooriya was placed runners-up at the 2013 Qatar Asian Junior U14 tournament, which was held during 3 to 7 March in Doha Qatar. The tournament is one of the major tournaments in the region held annually, this year Wijesooriya was sponsored by Oman Air.

Wijesooriya, who is currently seeded 41 in Asia, beat Shelbaya Lugain of Jordan (seeded No. 96) 6-1, 6-1 and Al Naemi Mubarka of Qatar (seeded No. 46) 6-1, 6-2 to qualify for the finals, where she lost to Najafi Dehaghi Saba of Iran (seeded No. 2) 6-3, 0-6, 3-6.

“Oman Air is happy to be sponsoring such a talent as Rukshika, and assist her in gaining as much experience and exposure as possible,” Oman Air Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives Gihan Karunaratne said.

“It is important to foster talent as early as possible, and I have no doubt that she will continue to bring further recognition to Sri Lanka.”

As per the Sri Lanka Tennis association rankings, Wijesooriya is currently seeded No. 1 in Sri Lanka in the U14 category and No. 8 in the overall Women’s category. A student of Asian International School Colombo, she also represented Sri Lanka at the recently concluded tournament in Vietnam held in January.