A personal triumph for Naveed Mohamed

The 5th Mahaweli Reach Junior Tennis Championships were a personal triumph for Naveed Mohamed who won the Senior Singles title for the fourth year running. A product of Zahira College Matale, Naveed now turns out for Trinity College.

Naveed overcame Pasindu Walisinghe with ease in the Under-19 final. He had earlier won the Under-19 Doubles event and the Open Doubles event partnered by N. Alam and Dr. H.M. Fahim respectively.

Banura Jayawardena also bagged a triple, winning the Under-15 Singles and Doubles as well as the Under-17 Singles. Banura had recourse to backhand and forehand slice shots which proved to be very effective.

Tiny Ruvi Lewke Bandara, fresh from her exploits at the recent Bandarawela open, accounted for three wins. In the Under- 11 event, Ruki was trailing her opponent 1-3. Yet, Ruki came back very strongly to win 7-4.

A left hander, Tiara Benaragama, who was all power, took the Under-17 and Under- 19 titles. While she had it all her own way in the first event, Kaveesha Supunsala gave her a fine run for her money in the Under-19 event. Tiara would do will to add some subtlety and variation to her game. This will come with more exposure and experience.

Jonathan Thomas and Savindu Wannigama took the first game in the Under-19 Doubles final. Their tactic seemed to be to deny Naveed Mohamed of the ball and concentrate on his partner, Alam. However Naveed and Alam, who have greater experience, got wise to the plan and worked out a counter and took the Match 9-1. Wannigama was good at killing the ball at the net.

Nipuna Nuwan, Sanduni Arambepola and Dilsa Dissanaike won two titles each. Yeshan Ranatunga was able to win three events – the maximum possible.

The Mahaweli Reach Championship is a welcome addition to a sports tennis calendar in Kandy. Nithila Unambuwe was chiefly responsible for the smooth conduct of the tournament.