Davis Cup stalemate continues

by Lal Gunesekera

TENNIS: It will be interesting to see who the fourth player is going to be in Sri Lanka's team for the Davis Cup (Asia/Oceania Zone Group III) tournament to be staged from April 7 to 14 in Tehran, Iran.

The controversy for the final berth between Guyanga Weerasekera and Hewakottage yet continues with three match (best of three) trial scheduled to take place today, tomorrow and on Tuesday to pick the final player to join Harshana Godamanne, Rajiv Rajapaksa and Dinusha Wijesuriya who are already in Sri Lanka's side and in Bangkok, Thailand in training under Dominiq Utzinger, the Swiss coach.

The "trial" between Guyanga and Hewakottage scheduled from today is already under a cloud with the latter already refusing to play another "trial", while the former has consented.

If Hewakottage does not turn up for the "trial", it would be taken into account that he has given a walk-over to Weerasekera, who will automatically become the fourth player in Sri Lanka's side for Iran next month.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA), Colonel Chrys de Silva (rtd), told the Sunday Observer that in the previous "trial" too, Howakottage, had not been present and a walk-over given to Weerasekera.

Earlier, Hewakottage had beaten Weerasekera in one "trial", but after the latter's success when he won both the Singles and Doubles at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior (Under-18) Championship held on the SSC courts, the national selectors comprising P. S. Kumara as Chairman, Aruna Seneviratne, Sanjay Wijemanne and Iqbal Issac, felt that another "trial" was necessary as Hewakottage had lost in the Singles in the very first-round at the ITF Junior International.

Hewakottage had presented to the Minister of Sports, Gamini Lokuge, who had requested the SLTA to conduct another trial between Hewakottage, Weerasekera and Wijesuriya. The latter is already in Bangkok and the Additional Asst Secretary to the Ministry of Sports, N. H. D. C. Herath, had indicated that it was not necessary to got down Wijesuriya again from Bangkok for the latest "trial" which starts today.

Minister Gamini Lokuge was scheduled to arrive in the country only yesterday (Saturday) and will be forced to arrive at a decision if Hewakottage again boycotts today's "trial".

Besides Sri Lanka, the other countries vying for honours in Tehran are Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Vietnam and Syria.

Janaka continues

Meanwhile, Janaka Bogollagama, will be uncontested as President of the SLTA at its annual general meeting to be held on March 29 at its headquarter's at 6.30 p.m. He was elected for the first time last week. This ends the speculation that former SLTA chief Suresh Subramaniam was to contest Bogollagama to the "hot seat" of local tennis.