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by Lal Gunesekera

Sri Lanka's first Satellite Digital Video Broadcasting Company, CBNSat, who has pumped in Rs. 2.5 million towards Sri Lanka's three-month long preparation and participation in the Davis Cup (Asia/Oceania Zone Group III) to be staged in Manila, Philippines in July expect the country to gain promotion to play in Group II next year (2007).

CBNSat's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Muhunthan Canagey, speaking at the agreement signing ceremony with the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) held last Friday at the Colombo Hilton, said that CBNSat were proud to be associated with the SLTA and hoped that the Sri Lanka side will bring pride to the country in Manila.

President of the SLTA, Suresh Subramaniam, whilst thanking CBNSat for their generous sponsorship package, hoped that their association with the SLTA will be a happy and prosperous journey. He also thanked every member of this committee for their support at all times.

A Vice-President of SLTa and the manager of the Davis Cup squad - Vasantha Wijesekera, said that sports and sponsorship is similar to love and marriage and hoped that their marriage with CBNSat will be permanent and fruitful.

He said that the preparations undertaken for July's Davis Cup can go towards gaining promotion to Group II, but commented that its difficult to gain promotion to Group II, but commented that its difficult to gain promotion to higher groups.

He further said that CBNSat has chosen wisely in investing with the Sri Lanka Davis Cup team and that their (SLTA) dreams can come true. Sri Lanka's Davis Cup squad will have three stints of advanced training - two at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Bangkok, Thailand and one in Colombo under the supervision of Dominic Utzinger, a specialist from the Bangkok Academy, who had even coached Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

The Academy at Bangkok has world class facilities for training and is the venue for Martina Hingis and other top players to train when touring Asia.

The Sri Lanka squad will also play in two "back to back" ITF Futures Tournaments in Bangkok before flying to Manila for the eight-nation Davis Cup (Asia/Oceania Zone Group II) with Vietnam, Singapore, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and Iran. The two top sides will gain promotion for next year's Group II contest.

Jayendra Wijeysekera, a former national champion and veteran Davis Cup player, has been appointed as the non-playing captain. Another veteran Rohan de Silva and young Harshana Godamanne are automatic choices to play, but the seven other players (Rajiv Rajapakse, Amrith Rupasinghe, Rukmal Cooray, Dinusha Wijesuriya, Udith Wickremasinghe, Michael Siyaguna and Sanka Athukorale) will play in a series of "trials" from Monday through Thursday at the SLTA courts for the other two berths in the team of four.

Among the others who were present were Lionel Almeida (CEO of SLTA), Maxwell de Silva (Secretary of SLTA), Chinthaka Wanasinghe (Marketing Manager of CBNSat) and Ramesh Anthony (Sales Manager of CBNSat).

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