Lanka fares poorly in Davis Cup

By Lal Gunesekera

TENNIS: Sri Lanka fared very poorly and not only failed to gain promotion to Group II of the Davis Cup (Asia/ Oceania Zone), but just managed to continue in Group III for the 10th year since 1999.

Sri Lanka beat Malaysia last year (2007), but in Teheran this year, they lost to the Malaysians (1-2) and also to the host nation, Iran (1-2). They did manage to beat Tajikistan (2-1) in their Group ‘B’ round-robin ties.

Then in the play-offs for the fifth to eighth positions, Sri Lanka, beat United Arab Emirates (UAE) (3-0) and Vietnam (3-0) to finish in fifth position ahead of Tajikistan, Vietnam and UAE. The last two countries (Vietnam and UAE) were relegated to Group IV for next year’s event, while Pakistan and Malaysia were promoted to Group II.

Sri Lanka’s non-playing captain Rohan de Silva, a former national champion and a veteran Davis Cup player himself, said that the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) must take the blame for the poor performance in Teheran.

He said: More facilities must be given to national players and a continuous programme is needed and also identify potential national players and train them in a proper manner.

“The SLTA hardly did anything to prepare for the Teheran contest and just a month’s training was insufficient.

The infighting in the controlling body too took its toll and also the controversy regarding the selections”, said De Silva.

EPSI Computers pumped in a lot of money for the Davis Cup event, and may think twice before they come up with another generous sponsorship package. Also, the matches in Teheran were played on the clay courts of the Eaghelab Sports Complex, but the Sri Lankans were sent for training to Bangkok, Thailand on hard courts.

It was also unfortunate that two of Sri Lanka’s top young players (Franklyn Emmanual and Oshada Wijemanne) were not released from their Universities in the USA where they are undergoing higher studies, and Sri Lanka depended too much on their world ranked player Harshana Godamanna, who is based in Bangkok.

The President of the SLTA, Janaka Bogollagama was of the view that the preparations for Teheran was “beyond” its control and that the high altitude would have been an obstacle to Sri Lanka’s performances.

He further said that both Harshana Godamanna and Rajiv Rajapakse played very well, although the two other players (Dinusha Wijesuriya and Artha Hewakottage) were inexperienced as the SLTA were unable to get the services of Franklyn Emmanual and Oshada Wijemanne who are pursuing higher studies in the USA. He said: They were not released by their universities.

Date not fixed for AGM yet

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Sports and Public Recreation, has yet not fixed a date for the annual general meeting of the SLTA at the inquiry into the eligibility of certain clubs to vote is in question.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SLTA, Colonel Chris de Silva (rtd). told the ‘Sunday Observer’ that “most of the clubs” are not eligible to vote, and that the SLTA had asked for an explanation from Matale TC and Queen’s Club about their original nominations sent to the controlling body.

Also, an explanation has been called from Maxwell de Silva (one of the Vice-Presidents) about certain statements (De Silva) had made, but yet no reply has been received from Matale TC, Queen’s and De Silva.