Saturday, 18 January 2014 00:00
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Swiss National Coach Pavel Rehorek is in Sri Lanka on the invitation of the Colombo YMCA from 14 January to 27 January.
He held a coaching camp from 3 p.m. yesterday and will hold another two today, 18 January, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Colombo YMCA in Fort.
This will be followed by a training program on the invitation of the Kandy Central Province TT Association at the Jagath Rajapaksa International Stadium on 25 and 26 January.
Coach Pavel was the Czech Junior Boys team Champion and Assistant National Coach in Switzerland from 2002. He was also coach of the Switzerland Champions Women team 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. He’s presently the Swiss Women’s National coach.
On 17 January children Under 8, Under 10, Under 12 rounds were coached and the best 12 Boys and Girls in each category were expected to attend. Today, 18 January, the Under 15 and Under 18 children will be coached.
If there is a sport in Sri Lanka which has over a period of time gathered momentum and popularity, it is table tennis. The YMCA was the pioneers who introduced the sport to this island nation.
Though the sport was introduced in the early ’20s the organised conduct of National Championships was started only in 1945. From 1945 to the latter part of the ’80s were dominated by the players representing the YMCA. This is aptly demonstrated by the long list of National Champions who have represented the YMCA.
Some of the famous names which come to mind are the early champions in the forties and fifties are J.J. Sarangapany, Charlie Daniel, N.M. Lakdewala, C.R. Schoorman, and the ever-famous Dr. Buddy Reid. Two other champions in that era who did yeoman service to the game were N. Udeshi and Suresh Melvani.
When the game gained in popularity, so was the competition. Top class Table Tennis was dished out to be appreciated by the large crowds. Easily the best two decades were from the late ’60s to the late ’80s. In the ’60s such players of the caliber of N. H. Perera and Annesley Gomez, the latter who undoubtedly was one of the most stylish players out of the lot come to mind.
The right royal battles came to the fray in the early ’70s where amongst the champions came world beaters as well. Amongst all the players the names of Angelo Santiago, Jothipala Samaraweera, Deepak Naraindas and Shabir Hussain stand out. Tamara Hewage too shone in the early 1980s.
It is worthy to mention the feats of Jothipala Samaraweera here. He became one of only two Sri Lankans who have been ranked within the best 64 in the world. The other is Tamara Hewage who won at the 1989 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany.
At the World Championship held in India in 1975 Samaraweera was ranked 33rd in the world, which feat has not been achieved by any player up to now. Though he qualified for the Olympics, Sri Lanka did not include Table Tennis in its portfolio of Olympic Games. In 1976 he was ranked 9th in Asia. At the Asian/African/Latin American Tournament held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1975 he took the then World number 1 Mitsu Kono of Japan to 3 sets which by itself was no mean feat.
Even in the ’80s the names of Jothipala Samaraweera, Angelo Santiago and Lalith Priyantha appear as worthy National Champions.
In the women’s side there were such players like V.P. Siriwardena, Bellie Weerakoon, Frances Rathnayake and Carrol Rudolph, who held sway from the forties to the late sixties. In the decade after that Srini Lucas, and Prithie Suwaris came to the forefront. The eighties were dominated by Shyamalie Dias, Vajira Premaratne and Swarna Pieris.
The only player in the world both in men’s and women’s categories, to play at the Nationals for 22 years was Bellie Weerakoon, winning the Nationals on 12 occasions. This is a world record undoubtedly, as we have not heard of such a performance from anywhere else in the world.
The impact made by the YMCA to table tennis is clearly evident from the foregoing.
Notwithstanding their ages most of these past champions are rendering yeomen service to the game by being renowned coaches.
At present N.H. Perera, Jothipala Samaraweera and Lalith Priyantha are parting their knowledge and experience to the new crop of players. Thamara Hewage is in the Table Tennis Association. Players at one time or the other who were associated with the YMCA and who are still serving Table Tennis are Namal Gunasekera, W. Buddhasiri, Jagath Rajapaksha the National Coach and P.D. Ratnasiri. Chandana Perera has served as the Secretary/President at the Association for many years.
The YMCA underwent decades of inactivity and turbulent periods when the country itself was in turmoil. Added to this the Colombo YMCA being situated at the heart of Fort was declared a High Security Zone, which affected it enormously.
Once again all sports activities have been revamped after more than two decades, at the YMCA particularly Table Tennis. The first such event was the Colombo YMCA Novices All-Island Open & Age Group Table Tennis Tournament 2013 which was supported and sponsored by Abans. An old stalwart of the caliber of Pesi Pestonjee, Director of Abans, who has the distinction of representing two countries, India and Sri Lanka in Table Tennis came forward to bring back the nostalgic and glorious past back to the YMCA.
This revival at the Colombo YMCA is due to the untiring efforts of its dynamic, visionary President Lal Withanage, who in the 90th year of the YMCA presence in Fort has begun a drive to improve the YMCA and especially its sports. The YMCA is also grateful to Tamara Hewage (five times National Champion) for initiating the process to bring down the Swiss National coach.
