Anjalika, Sharmal crowned SL Tennis Champions 2019
Anjalika Kurera didn’t have any tennis background when she took to the sport in Negombo at the age of seven
Anjalika Kurera, 15, made history in the century-old SL Tennis Nationals on Saturday, 17 August by clinching her first women’s singles title thrashing Janali Manamperi 6-1, 6-0 in the event’s final at the SLTA hard courts, Colombo. On Sunday 18 Saturday, Sharmal Dissanayake got the better of the 2014 SL National Champion Heera Ashiq of Pakistan to record his fourth consecutive National Singles triumph.
Kurera reached dizzy heights from Negombo where she was chosen, sans any formal tennis background, to play ‘mini tennis’ for Ave Maria Convent when she was seven. She made a startling win in her semi-finals this year ousting defending champion Anika Seneviratne in a three-set match.
Both Kurera and Dissanayake have already represented Sri Lanka in the two main annual international tennis championships, the Fed Cup and the Davis Cup respectively.
The SL Tennis Nationals was held this time in its 104th year.
SL TENNIS NATIONALS
FORMER CHAMPIONS –
Women’s:
(Since year 2000)
2000 – Vajira Premaratne
2001 – Shalini Pereira
2002 – Dinali de Silva
2003 – Thiyumi Abeysinghe
2004 – Udanthie Narahenpitage
2005-08 – Jithmie Jayawickrema (4 times in a row)
2009-14 – Amritha Muttiah (6 times in a row)
2015 & 16 – Thisuri Molligoda (2 times in a row)
2017 – Medhira Samarasinghe
2018 – Anika Seneviratne
2019 – Anjalika Kurera
Sharmal Dissanayake won his fourth consecutive Nationals title
SL Nationals Men’s Champions
(Since year 2000)
2000 – Dinuka Ranaweera
2001 – Renouk Wijemanne
2002 & 03 – Franklyn Emmanuel (2 times in a row)
2004 – Wincent Ligard (France)
2005 & 06 – Harshana Godamanna (2 times in a row)
2007 – Amrit Rupasinghe
2008-10 – Harshana Godamanna (3 times in a row)
2011-13 – Thangarajah Dineshkanthan (3 times in a row)
2014 – Heera Ashiq (Pakistan)
2015 – Thangarajah Dineshkanthan
2016-19 – Sharmal Dissanayake (4 times in a row)
