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| Sunday, 24 November 2002 |
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SLTA to help Maldives in Tennis by LAL GUNESEKERA The Sri Lanka Tennis Association is in the process of helping Maldive Islands to popularise and improve the standard of the sport. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SLTA, Boshan Dayaratne, told the Sunday Observer that as a first step towards this goal, the SLTA will be sending a team comprising three boys, three girls and a coach cum manager to the Maldives for about a week to play against the Maldivians next month (December). He said: The first 'tie' between Sri Lanka and Maldive Islands will be staged in the Maldives from December 15 to 21. The second will be worked off in Colombo next year (2003). This will be an annual event. The SLTA will have to find the cost of the air travel, while the Maldivian authorities will meet all other expenses, including accommodation and internal travel. Dayaratne further said that the Maldivian Tennis Association's Centre in Male has two courts, and that every resort has a court or two. The Minister of Sports of the Maldivian government who was in Sri Lanka recently has held discussions with the President of the SLTA, Suresh Subramaniam, while the Maldivians have also requested the SLTA to conduct a Level I coaches examination in Male either in January or February next year (2003). Mini tennis A mini tennis tournament was held in Kandy for the first occasion in conjunction with the SLTA. So far over 40 schools from Kandy, Negombo, Colombo, Bandarawela, Ratnapura, Panadura and Batticaloa are taking part in this programme where over 40,000 children are involved. A programme is to be launched in Jaffna, too, by the end of this year with Mirinda sponsoring SLTA's mini tennis programme. Regional tournaments have been conducted and an All-Island Mini Tennis Tournament is to be held at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) in Greenpath on December 9, 10 and 11. The competition in Kandy was held at the YMCA co-sponsored by Pro Soy and players from Dharmaraja, Trinity, Swarnamali BMV, Hillwood, Seethadevi BMV took part. Dharmaraja 'A' won the boys event beating Trinity, while among the girls Seethadevi BMV 'A' emerged champions with their 'B' side as the runners-up. Over 200 children participated. |
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