Sri Lanka’s top junior players Franklin Emmanuel and N. S. Nishendran have made a sensational entry in the boys under 14 semi finals in the singles, and the finals in the boys under 14 doubles events, of the DSCL national Championships (Indian Nationals) which is being held in New Delhi.

N. S. Nishendran knocked out top seed Jeevan Nedumchezian 6/2, 6/1, in the pre-quarter finals and then beat a boy from Chandighar 6/1, 6/3 to enter the semi finals. Franklin Emmanuel beat another Chandighar boy 6/1, 7/6 to also enter the semi finals. At the moment Nishendran seems to be more consistent winning his matches relatively easily, while Emmanuel has lapses in concentration, but on the other hand also plays brilliantly when the need arises, said Sanjay Mayadunne, Manager/Coach.

In the doubles, Franklin and Nishendran beat Preetham and Vishnu Varadhan from Hyderabad 6/2, 2/6, 6/4 to reach the finals.

This impressive performance brings to mind the long gone era of the 1950’s when Sri Lanka was on par with its giant neighbour. The last decades saw the degeneration of Sri Lanka tennis to very low levels. However, the junior development program initiated by the SLTA, has produced excellent results said an official. The SLTA recently recruited a top Indian coach, Arul Amalnathan to train the junior players reach international standards.