Sri Lanka eyes promotion to Group II in Asian Zone

By Lal Gunesekera

TENNIS: Sri Lanka stand a very good chance of gaining promotion to Group II of the Davis Cup (Asia/Oceania Zone) this year when the event is to be staged at the National Tennis Centre (NTC), Greenpath from July 18 to 22, but it all depends on the luck of the draw on July 17 at the Taj Samudra Hotel.

The manager of the Sri Lanka team Vasantha Wijesekera, told the Sunday Observer that Sri Lanka who were fourth in 2005 at Hong Kong and third last year (2006) are determined to fare better and be one of the two sides to gain promotion to Group II. He said that the biggest challenge will be from Lebanon and also Vietnam whom the Lankans beat last year (2006), though losing to the Philippines.

Wijesekera said that Harshana Godamanne who is based in an Academy in Thailand and plays in Futures tournaments of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) is in top form and will have the support of Renouk Wijemanne too this year.

The latter was not available last year, but made himself available to play this year in Colombo.

Wijemanne is in the USA and has been playing "a lot of tennis" in the University Circuit in California and also represents a club in France. The other two Lankan players are Rajiv Rajapakse and young Sanka Athukorale with veteran Rohan de Silva as non-playing captain.

Manager Wijesekera said that the Sri Lankans were in training at the Academy in Thailand for one month under Swiss coach Dominique Udzinger. They had arrived in Colombo at the end of last month (June 30) and are continuing their training at the NTC under Udzinger who is being assisted by Philip another Swiss coach of repute.

The Sri Lankans are training daily. Their programme starts at 9 a.m. when they play till 11.30 a.m. and from 11.30 a.m. they have physical training. They continue their playing from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. and again have physical training from 4.30 p.m.

The new President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA), Janaka Bogollagama, the Real Estate businessman from Kurunegala, is also hopeful that Sri Lanka will gain promotion in his (Bogolagama's) first term as head of SLTA.

The principal sponsor of this year's Davis Cup in Colombo is DIMO with the other domestic sponsors being Coca-Cola Lite, Red Bull, Sun and Fun Natures Secret, Nolimit and Coats Thread (Lanka) Limited.

Apart from Sri Lanka, the others countries vying for honours in Colombo are Lebanon, Malaysia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Singapore and the UAE.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Junior National Championship is scheduled to be staged at the NTC from July 30 to August 13, Wheelchair National Championship also at the NTC from August 13 to 19 with the Nationals too scheduled for August.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SLTA - Lionel Almeida, told the Sunday Observer that an International Wheelchair Championships featuring three countries (Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan) is scheduled to be staged at the NTC in September and also three Futures tournaments for men and women (men's events from November 12 to 18 and also from November 19 to 25 and the Women's Circuit from October 22 to November 4).

He said that the SLTA needs Rs. 1.5 million as prize money for each event and are optimistic of getting the sponsors.