BNP Paribas - Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Gr. III :

Eight Nations to compete in Sri Lanka

The Asia /Oceania Davis Cup by BNP Paribas GR.111 will be played at the national tennis center in Green Path from 13th to 19th June 2011 with the participation of 8 nations. The two top teams will be promoted to GR.11 whereas the two teams in the bottom will be relegated to GR.1V.

The 8 nations participating are Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, UAE, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

Last year Sri Lanka was unfortunate to be beaten by a margin of 3 / 2 wherein Harshana Godamanne beat the top New Zealand player i.e. Turner who was ranked ATP 340.

President SL Tennis Mr. Maxwell de Silva said that 2011 been a very busy year for SLTA wherein we staged the ITF junior event with the participation of 29 regional teams comprising 15 countries was the biggest event staged by SLTA for a decade followed by level 11 coaches workshop which was conducted by ITF with the participation of app.20 coaches from SL and from the region and our own Niranjan Casiechetty was successful in getting into the elite band of coaches in the level 2 category thus making a mark in the international scene. Apart from the above there will be some more international events planned in the latter part of the year. As per ITF development officer Mr. Suresh Menon, SLTA had done a great job in staging events and performing successfully, hence the decision of ITF to have Davis cup in Sri Lanka. Suresh Subramanium, chairman tennis selection committee is busy in preparing the clay courts to suit our players and he confirmed that it will be ready in time for the tie and under his guidance; SLTA had selected Dunlop fort elite as the ball to suit our conditions. When all these are going on self-appointed former sports ministers so called tennis representative who had not played Davis cup nor represented the country in tennis as a player is busy making remarks and seen a by stander at green path. Whole of the tennis fraternity is behind SL tennis to make this event a grand success. Three former young tennis players namely Sasith, Udith and Sohan had come forward at the request of president, slta to strengthen the Davis cup sponsorship committee in raising the much required funds for the event and very confident of their success.

Dinith Pathiraja a renowned tennis coach had taken the task to be the director of Davis Cup to ensure the tie is conducted to the highest standards as expected by ITF and the official tie hotel is the continental hotel. Jayendra Wijesekere, Shalini Perera and Jagath Welikala who are qualified coaches are extending their fullest support of SLTA and its initiatives on all the on-going events.

Aasiri Iddamalgoda the non- playing captain and Rohan de Silva is busy preparing our players for the tie and both are very confident that Sri Lanka could be promoted to gr.11 this time as Harshana is coming for the tie next week and also there is an absolutely good chance that Ooshada Wijemnne who is playing good tennis in USA will make it to the team thereby strengthening the team. At the moment trials are been conducted at SLTA and it is likely that young Dinesh Kanthan and 17 year old Vimuktha de Alwis based in Jakarta will make it to the Davis Cup team. Sri Lanka tennis association is looking forward to thrilling matches and making every effort to support our team to get promoted to group II