Test of strength for Lanka to get promotion

By Lal Gunasekera

TENNIS: Fortune favours the brave and how brave Sri Lanka's warriors are to get promotion to Group II of the Davis Cup (Asia Oceanic Zone) is left to be seen as they start the battle on Wednesday on the hard courts of the National Tennis Centre (NTC) in Greenpath. It ends on Sunday (July 22).

Officials are keeping their fingers crossed to see whether the money spent on the Lankan players are worth the while, and the time has now arrived for the players to prove themselves. The draw to be held at the Taj Samudra Hotel on Tuesday too will play a decisive role.

Sri Lanka are seeded No. 3 with Lebanon (1) and Vietnam (2) ahead of them, while the other four countries vying for promotion (only the first two to be promoted to Group II) are Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Singapore and UAE.

Twenty-one year old Harshana Godamanne is Sri Lanka's No. 1 player who will play the Singles with 25-year-old Renouk Wijemanne.

The former is a left-hander based in Thailand and ranked No 1383 in Singles and No. 1320 in Doubles by the ATP. He has been playing ATP tournaments in Thailand, Dubai and Kuwait and has won the national triple crown in 2005 and 2006.

The latter (Wijemanne) is a student in the USA who plays in the Southern California Circuit and also for a club (Asptt Montellier) in France.

He won the national singles in 2001 and also the national doubles in 2001 and 2002, though making his Davis Cup debut in 1999.

Rajiv Rajapakse (27) and young Sanka Athukorale could well combine to play is the Doubles. The former made his debut in Davis Cup in 1998 and won the national doubles title thrice (2003, 2005 and 2006) and was national singles runner-up in 2002, 2005 and 2006 too.

The latter (Athukorale) is one of the finest young players to come out of the Junior Programme of the SLTA.

Veteran Davis Cup player Rohan de Silva takes on a new role as Sri Lanka's non-playing captain with Wasantha Wijesekera (a Vice President of the SLTA) continuing to be the manager while Swiss national Dominic Utzinger as coach.