Table Tennis Canada nominated Sanuka Herath from Edmonton, Alberta for the 2023 Hopes Training Camp in France. Technical Director Marles Martins submitted the application and it was successful. He is one athlete amongst only 7 wild cards from around the world.
Marles had some nice things to say about the young Alberta talent “: It is really nice to see a young promise like Sanuka. Besides the many Table Tennis abilities in his repertoire, Sanuka demonstrates the physicality needed to to reach the highest level of Performance internationally. All of us would benefit from watching and supporting this young Table Tennis talent.”
Sanuka started playing Table Tennis in 2016 at the age of 6 years. His coaches at the Cyclone Table Tennis Club in Edmonton are Mr. Hasitha Samaraweera and Mr. Henberd Ortalla. The winner of the 2022 U12 target group tournament in Quebec was very confidence going into the tournament “I have been training hard, I did expect to win. I also wanted to win U13, but I lost in the Semi-finals and won 3rd place.” He definitely worked hard in getting ready for the event “I continued my training here in Edmonton since we moved from Sri Lanka. But we felt that I was missing some of the skills that I was in the process of developing while we made the move to Edmonton. So we decided to go back to Sri Lanka to train under my coach Mr. Hasitha Samaraweera who has been instrumental in developing my techniques and skills. I spent 10 whole days at the club with my coach and club mates training from 9 in the morning till 7 in the evening.”
Making the ITTF Hopes Training Camp in France this upcoming January is amazing already. “It feels good to finally get into the hopes program since I have been dreaming to take part in the world hopes program just like my teammates from the club in Sri Lanka did in the last year and the year before’s programs. Also, coach Hasitha always predicted that I will make it to the World Hopes one day. I am very excited to get a chance to play in the World Hopes representing Canada.”
His future dream is to play in the Olympic Games one day and win a medal. Maybe he will beat his favourite player Tomokazu Harimoto in the Semi Finals to get to that point. Why do you like Table Tennis? I like it because it is fun and it is exciting for every single point. On another note, I get to visit exciting places and meet new friends.
We are looking forward seeing the amazing achievements of Sanuka in the future. For now, all the best for January!!!
