11-year-old Tashiya Piyadasa, recently claimed the championship in the under-11 category at the National Junior Table Tennis Championships held in the USA, June. Her beatific talent in table tennis (TT) made her be graded at No. 4 in the under-13 category. In advance, she has also received a TT scholarship.
Tashiya is the elder daughter of a former top table tennis player in Sri Lanka, Thilina Piyadasa.
Her father, Thilina was an eight-time national champion in Sri Lanka till 2007. In 1996, while in school, he was selected as the most talented table tennis player. Tashiya’s mother Rifka Kamil is also a table tennis player who captained the Sri Lanka table tennis team in 1997 and was commended as the most talented schoolgirl player at the Milo awards ceremony in 1996. It is discernible that Tashiya is bestowed and inherited her scintillating TT skills from her parents. The Piyadasa family is now settled down in the USA. Currently, Tashiya is the TT champion in the USA in the under-11 age group.
Her ingress into TT is gradual. Though she was not keen on TT at the beginning, when she was about seven, she decided on her own to take up table tennis. Her father was her first coach. Then Udaya RAnasignhe, a former Sri Lanka national TT champion, who had also settled down in the USA, volunteered to coach my daughter. Under his tutelage and mentorship, Tashiya trained hard, followed the coach’s instructions, and took part in several TT tournaments.
Currently, Tashiya’s coach is an Olympic TT gold medalist in the USA. She is Shao June, a well-known coach and the president of the California Table Tennis club. Under her mentorship, Tashiya put in special effort to win the title at a national level tournament in the under-11 age group.
Let us wish Tashiya, the girl with Sri Lankan roots to be successful with her all future endeavors.
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