Maxwell denies allegations

Chris Dhambarage

President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association Maxwell de Silva yesterday rubbished all allegations directed on his officials as false as they look forward towards hosting a successful Davis Cup tournament in Colombo next month. The 57 year old veteran administrator and the present General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee believe that his team has the courage to march forward despite many challenges and the baseless allegations they are faced with.

De Silva who came into power in June 2009 said that there has not been any mismanagement or negligence during his tenure and has made every effort to boost the game in the form of many sponsorship packages.

“When I took over the financial side was negative. It was red. My pain priority was to turn it to black. I think now we are very sound in the financial aspect compared to the past but we have a long way to go.”

De Silva stressed the fact that it is not the amount of funds that they receive is important but the manner in which the funds are managed and distributed in a proper manner is what matters at the end.

“We have got some good sponsors but the fact is how you manage it. It is not just doing things on your own. With the help of the former Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge and the present Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage we have managed to find some good sponsors”.

De Silva stated that the Sports Ministry also helped them financially to get down a foreign coach from Argentina but unfortunately he could not continue for a long period due to his personal commitments.

The President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association also highlighted the huge amount of infrastructure development work which is currently taking place throughout the country and had the satisfaction of hosting three ITF tournaments successfully.

The Sri Lanka Tennis Association is also in a big way towards the promotion and development of wheel chair tennis in the country. “We are the only national federation who is running a program for disabled soldiers.

To my knowledge nobody has done it. No other association has done it. We are the first and the only association which is committed towards the disabled soldiers” added de Silva.