|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 18 April 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Lanka now eyes Group II of Davis Cup by LAL GUNESEKERA After quite a long stagnation in Group IV of the Davis Cup (Asia/Oceania Zone), Sri Lanka has at last gained promotion to figure in Group III next year (2005) after their unblemished record in Amman, Jordan last week where they beat Bangladesh (3-0), Iraq (3-0), Myanmar (2-1) and Kyrgistan (3-0). The other country which qualified for Group III next year was Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) told the Sunday Observer that the money that the SLTA had pumped in to develop the sport in the country, particularly among the juniors seems to have paid off. He further said that the 10-day training in bombay, India on route to Jordan too was a decisive factor. The Lankans had practised with some of the best Indian national players and came under Enrice Popin one-time coach to India's Grand Slam winners Mahesh Bhupathy and Leander Paes. Pepino has won Sri Lanka's national doubles title in Colombo many years back. Another contributing factor to Sri Lanka's success was the appointment of Lasantha Fernando as non-playing captain. Fernando who was domiciled in the USA for several years returned to take up the appointment and challenge. He too is a former Sri Lanka national champion and Davis Cup player of repute. Renouk Wijemanne, who is studying in the USA fared exceptionally well to win all his matches as did the doubles pair of veteran Rohan de Silva (an aviation engineer) and Rajiv Rajapakse. The other player in the Sri Lankan side was young Franklyn Emmanual whose only defeat was at the hands of Myanmar's Maw Tu in a three-setter. The President of the SLTA, Suresh Subramaniam, said that his aim now is for Sri Lanka to win Group III next year and get promoted into Group II in 2006. Sri Lanka entered the semi-finals of Group II for four consecutive years (1989 to 1992) before being relegated. The Lankans beat Malaysia (3-2) and Chinese Taipei (3-2) before losing to Thailand (0-5) in 1989, beat Bahrain (4-1) and then lost to Thailand again (1-4) in the 1990 'semis', then in 1991 they beat Syria (5-0) and Bangladesh (5-0) only to be edged out (2-3) in the 'semis' by Hong Kong, while in 1992 the Lankans beat Bangladesh (4-1), but lost again to Hong Kong (0-5) in the 'semis'. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
