After two years, the All-Island Interschool Tennis 10s will be back in Colombo. This year’s event will take place from November 4 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts.
Even though the event has seen over a decade of existence, the past two years have been slow due to the Covid-19 Pandemic in the country.
The event will be played in full form from 08:00 am to 06:000pm at the SLTA courts.
A whopping 1,300 kids through 121 teams are expected to participate in the event this year, coming together from all corners of the island.
Colombo, Kandy, Kalutara, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Negombo, Panadura, Galle, Kurunegala, Ratnapura, and Gampaha are some of the area’s most participation is expected. The event will see three age categories: Under 7, Under 8, and Under 10s.
In addition to the main draw, the organizers have also planned some fun activities for the kids present at the SLTA, to ease the pressure off the young minds.
The main objective of this kids’ carnival is to promote the sport of tennis in the country and to educate and motivate young tennis enthusiasts from the grassroots level. It also gives a chance for these players to travel to Colombo at a young age to participate in a mass event such as the Tennis 10s, and learn that tennis is an involved and fun sport to take up, even at a professional level in the future.
“SLTA is making great strides in order to play back-to-back tournaments to keep the players motivated around the year. This event is done mainly to empower the kids and to promote the sport of tennis across the country,” Chairman of Tournament and Matches at the SLTA Suresh Subramaniam was quoted as having said in an SLTA statement.
This year, more research and importance have been given to ‘child psychology’ in sports. Hence, the organizers at SLTA along with their title sponsor Ritzbury Sri Lanka, will not just be awarding the top finishers, but will be presenting participation trophies and Ritzbury gift packs to all 1,300 participants.
The Tournament Referee will be Anjana de Silva, a seasoned individual in the local games over the years and Chamila Iddagoda will take up responsibilities as Tournament Director.
Ritzbury Sri Lanka has stepped forward to join the SLTA as the Main Sponsor of the event while Sunquick, Eva, and Perera & Sons will join in as Event Sponsors with 3G Sports coming in as the official Ball Sponsor.