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Yasodara, the rising star in Sri Lanka`s tennis scene
Monday, 27 November 2006 - 4:32 AM SL Time
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Young Yasodara Karunaratne who is yet to reach 13 is making a name for herself in the sport of tennis. One of the brightest all round students of Colombo International School popular known as CIS is showing glimpse of a future national prospect. Within the five years of playing she has been going from strength to strength by coming on top in virtually all the tournaments she has participated in.
Starting her tennis career at the tender age of five when other kids begin their school career, she has taken to the game like a duck takes to water. It was the early coaching of her first coach Kingsley Kandappa that inspired this young girl to take the sport seriously. Later the two years she spent learning under former national coach Arul Amalnathan gave her more guts, courage and confidence to face the worse challenge.
This year she swept the boards in the Under 12 category for girls when she finished in the top two of seven major ranking tournaments conducted by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association. She emerged the winner in tournaments conducted by the YMCA Mt Lavinia, S. Thomas` Mt Lavinia, SSC, Otters, Women`s International and Jaic Hilton and was also the junior national champion (Under 12) this year. She was the Under 12 and 14 champion at the Colombo Championship, apart from that she was the national doubles runner up in the same category.
These were her latest achievements and in all she has bagged nearly 35 titles including national titles, ten in the Under 10 and 12 in the Under 12 category. This year she remained unbeaten throughout the season to maintain the number one ranking. Looking back at her previous winning spree she won her first title at the age of seven winning the novices at the Women`s International tournament in Colombo.
The young girl says it`s not easy to maintain the form but I get all the support from my parents and also I put in my sacrifice and do it with sheer commitment. What I have gained is due to regular training done with dedication. I start training at 5.45 in the morning for almost two hours after which I go to school again I train from 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. and this done for five days of the week. On Saturdays she trains for four hours from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
This does not mean she neglects her studies as she has balanced both equally and has academic merit awards almost every year. Her high standard of studies and sports discipline was rewarded when the school authorities selected her to be the junior head girl of CIS. Yasodara was a member of the school Under 19 when she was just 11 years and was awarded the school tennis colours two successive years (2004-05 and 2005-06). She helped her team win the Inter-International tennis tournament and was adjudged the best player of the tournament. She was also a member of the school team that won the All Island Under 13 tournament in 2004.
She has also undergone training abroad at Thailand, Australia for two years and more recently in January at the world famous Margaret Court tennis academy. At present she is in a squad of 12 talented junior players selected by the SLTA in a training programme motivated by its president Suresh Subramaniam. This squad is trained by a team of coaches headed by Chrishantha Perera for five days of the week.
Young Yasodara with her focus being turned to the Asian circuit for the next two years and in order to achieve her target, she will be leaving to Thailand on December 1 for two months training. After which she will join the Sri Lanka junior team to Pakistan for the ITF Asian Championship. She was ever grateful to her father Lloyd and mother Gothami who have given their unstinted support and encouragement which has made things easy for her.
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