CICT to uplift Wheelchair Tennis after historic year

Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), the longstanding sponsors since 2015 and China Merchants Foundation (CMF) handed over US$30,000 in the form of a donation for the future of wheelchair tennis during an event held at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA).

Wheelchair Tennis has been an evolving sport in Sri Lanka. Since its commencement in 2002 they have shown steady progress and have been able to bring glory on numerous occasions. The last three years can be considered the most memorable in the history of wheelchair tennis in the country.

Major General Shiran Abeysekara has been considered as a stalwart in uplifting the sport along with Iqbal Bin Issack, who have been instrumental in promoting the wheelchair version of tennis. Sports brisk emergence began with the success at the Para Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, when Suresh Ranjan Dharmasena and Lasantha Ranaweera won the bronze medal in Men's Doubles.

The success at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup that was held in Israel in 2019 was a confidence booster for the wheelchair tennis team. They were placed 14th out of 90 countries.

Jagath Welikala, their longstanding head coach said that the success in Israel enabled his team to identify their strengths and more importantly, it motivated the players to take the sport in to the next level. Through this, he believed they could achieve something significant in the years that led to the Tokyo Paralympics. Leading up to the Paralympics, at the World Team Cup in Portugal, Sri Lanka had beaten Israel, Greece and Croatia.

Welikala and his brigade was determined to represent the country at the showpiece event in Tokyo. Despite the Paralympics being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the players remained positive and trained hard with an aim to create history. Their dedication and sacrifices have been rewarding as Suresh

Ranjan Dharmasena, was able to get direct qualification for Paralympics.

"Being able to represent Sri Lanka at the Paralympics was a significant achievement itself. It was a great experience for Dharmasena to play against the best players in the world. I think it was a source of motivation for the whole nation," Welikala said.

Soon after the Tokyo Paralympics, they had the World Team Cup that was held in Sardinia, Italy. In the 16-nation tournament they were able to beat strong oppositions such as Brazil, Belgium, and Poland as they came back home beaming with confidence. They were positioned sixth out of 16 nations. This is considered as the highest achievement in the history of wheelchair tennis in Sri Lanka.

Head Coach Welikala has been a part of the programme since its commencement and has seen the development of wheelchair tennis from the grassroots level. He also has guided and nurtured over 30 international ranked players, received the coach of the year award by the International Tennis Federation and is the first Asian to receive the award.

"It's an honour to be the first Asian coach to receive the award. Actually it gives me immense satisfaction when I see my players perform at the highest level of the sport. All I want is to produce players and give them the confidence to move forward in life and it motivates me to make my country proud and I want to see the sport evolve in the country," Welikala added.

Tissa Wickramasinghe, the DGM, Operations and Marketing, Catriona Jayasundera, Senior General Manager, Commercial and Marketing representing CICT, while representing SLTA its President Iqbal Bin Issack, Major General Shiran Abeysekara, the Vice President and Chairman of Wheelchair Tennis Committee and Pradeep Gunasekara, the General Secretary were present at the occasion of granting the donation at SLTA.