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| Sunday, 25 July 2004 |
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Disabled soldiers Silva and Manatunga go upto semis in Belgium by Lal Gunesekera Bertie Silva and J.D.K. Manatunga, the two disabled Sri Lankan soldiers, who were elevated to the `A' Division by the ITF after their success in the Hague at the Dutch Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, reached the semi-finals of the singles at the Belgium Open last week. Silva and Manatunga performed exceptionally well in the Dutch Open figuring in the `B' Division with the former winning the singles, while combining together to win the doubles too. However, playing in the elevated `A' Division in Belgium, Manatunga was unfortunate to lose in the singles semi-final in the third set tie-breaker to South Africa's Victor Joppie. The Lankan earlier beat Japan's Shroyama 6-4, 6-1 and South Africa's Nick Taylor 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Bertie Silva too advanced into the semis from his half of the draw. He beat France's Flreian 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Bouchard Harve, another Frenchman, 6-0, 6-1 before succumbing to South Africa's Adrian Hubbard 2-6, 3-6 in the semi-finals. Sri Lanka's wheelchair tennis has come a long way since breaking into the international scene in 2002. After making an impression in the`D' and `C' Divisions at Bangkok in 2002 and Paris in 2003, Sri Lanka competed with success in both Australia and New Zealand as a `B' Division country. With the rapid progress made by Sri Lanka, the ITF made generous investments in the development of Wheelchair Tennis in Sri Lanka, with local companies too lending support. Aggreko were the first, and recently, South Asia Gateway Terminals (Pvt) Ltd, came up with a massive Rs. 1 million contribution to launch SLTA's Wheelchair Development Fund. Both Silva and Manatunga are preparing for the Para Olympics to be staged in Athens, Greece in September. |
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