Fourth slot for Davis Cup tomorrow

By Lal Gunasekera

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TENNIS: The final decision on the fourth player to represent Sri Lanka in its Davis Cup (Asia Oceania Zone Group III) contest to be staged in Teheran, Iran from April 7 to 14 will be taken by the Minister of Sports, Gamini Lokuge, only tomorrow (Monday).

A spokesman for the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) told the 'Sunday Observer' that they (certain official of the controlling body) spoke to the Minister last Friday and that a decision is to be taken tomorrow (Monday). The fourth slot was to be between Gayanga Weerasekera who won the ITF Junior ITF Under-18 Singles title at the SSC courts last week and Hewakottage, who lost in the first-round in the same tournament.

The national selectors appointed by the Minister of Sports comprising P. S. Kumara, Aruna Seneviratne, Sanjay Wijemanne and Iqbal Bin Issac, requested both Weerasekera and Howaka stage to play each other, but the latter refused and did not turn up. He protested to Minister Lokuge.

However, due to this situation, the selectors picked Weerasekera to join Harshana Godamanna (ITF ranked player based in Bangkok), Rajiv Rajapakse and Dinusha Wijesuriya to represent Sri Lanka in the Davis Cup. Weerasekera won the ITF Under-18 title. Rohan de Silva will continue as non-playing captain Wasantha Wijesekera as manager and Dominic Utzinger as coach.

The eight countries who will be vying for honours in Iran, apart from Sri Lanka, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, UAE, Vietnam and Syria.