Table Tennis tournaments begin in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2003, 16:17 GMT]
Four-day North-East and All Island Table Tennis tournaments for the year 2003, based on the theme " Peace through Sports," began in Trincomalee Sunday at the Hindu Cultural hall under the aegis of the Asian German Sports Exchange Programme in collaboration with the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Schools Table Tennis Association, Trincomalee District Table Tennis Association, Eastern Province Table Tennis Association and the Sri Lanka Police Department in Trincomalee.

Four tournaments will be held from Thursday to Sunday. They are: North East Table Tennis Championship-2003, All Island intermediate/novices TT championship-2003, All Island unranked TT Championship-2003 and All Island Veterans TT championship-2003.

Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, inaugurated the tournament Sunday morning by participating as the chief guest. The closing event of the tournaments will take place on Sunday evening with the distribution of awards and certificates to the winners, said Mr.Daya Samaraweera, chairman of the organizing committee.

Mr.Samaraweera is the Trincomalee Superintendent of Police and also holds the posts of vice president of the All Island Table Tennis Association and President of the Trincomalee District Table Tennis Association.

Mr.Sampanthan speaking at the inaugural event said that permanent peace should dawn in the country on the basis of a fair and just political solution to the conflict. Majority of the people of all communities in the country have been supporting the current peace process with the hope of achieving a lasting peace to the ethnic problem.

"War has come to a halt and the parties concerned with the two-decade-old war have begun talks between them to find a negotiated political settlement to the current national conflict," said Mr.Sampanthan.

He said that the international community is not only supporting the peace efforts but also has pledged several billion rupees for the development of Sri Lanka, especially the war ravaged North East province. "The political leaders and people of the country should seize this golden opportunity without fail," he stressed.

Mr. Samaraweera said that next year the North East TT Championship competition would be held in the Jaffna district. He added that TT championship competitions are held in Trincomalee with a view to fostering harmony among all communities and to support the current peace efforts.