Into the baseline with Paldano
Tennis in general and tennis particularly in Negombo and Kandy centered during the interview with George R. Paldano, the High
George R. Paldano – Pic by Hasitha Kulasekera
Performance Tennis Coach who is to write a Guest Column to the Sunday Times starting next week.
“The De Silva family in Negombo plays an active role in keeping tennis alive in Negombo,” said Paldano. I tried to recollect the little I knew about the game in Negombo. Of course there was S.M.R. de Silva from Alison, Trinity who won his tennis colours in addition to winning his rugby colours. He was better known as Manik Rohan de Silva, the first name of S remained a mystery. I too will keep silent about this S. Manik in later years represented the CR&FC with rugby greats such as Eric Roles, Ronnie Schokman ‘Bumpy’ Jayasekera and Hiranjan Perera, to name a few. In due course young Rohan de Silva shone at tennis and started representing the country in Davis Cup matches. He was also the skipper of the Sri Lanka tennis team which took part at the London Olympics 2012. It was with a certain amount of pride that I came to know that Rohan was the son of Manik de Silva! Of course from time to time Manik too played a little tennis at the SLTA but it was Rohan’s name that took ‘centre court’ often.
Switching to tennis in Kandy we all know that Kumar Sangakkara started as a good student of the game. Of course it is also no secret that his uncle the late Dr. K.B. Sangakkara was a tennis fanatic in the 60s.
Right now the Sri Lanka Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) has started preparing for next February’s Davis Cup tie against Pakistan with great vigour. Sri Lanka’s No 1 Davis Cup singles player Harshana Godamanne (27) has been based in the US since 2010. The SLTA has agreed to pay for his air passage as well as agreed to meet other terms. He is expected to arrive in the island on December 22 to join the training squad.
It was due to Harshana Godamanne’s efforts that Sri Lanka obtained Group 2 status in 2010 and being able to defend the promotion last year. However the plans for February 2013’s campaign also revolves around 21-year-old Dineshkanthan Thangaraja, Sri Lanka’s second singles representative. Dinesh is to take part in the Asian Championship after which is to join a tennis academy in Thailand for a 30 day residential coaching camp. All this is partly funded by the SLTA. All this is being done with an eye to the future as Dinesh is the best bet to take over from Harshana in time to come.
Rohan de Silva will be the Davis Cup captain. Godamanne and Dineshkanthan are expected to form the first names in the squad for the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan and will undoubtedly play in both the singles and doubles matches. The others to be in the squad are the battle hardened Rajeev Rajapakse with the youngster from Royal, Sharmal Dissanayake expected to fill the fourth slot. However Sharmal looks a doubtful starter as he is to take a tour of the European circuit in February next year. Nisgan is another name that revolves around the Davis Cup squad. However the squad will only be named after a series of trials.
Asiri Iddamalgoda who captained the team that paved the way for the Group 2 promotion in 2008 is expected to head the selection panel with the other selectors being Sanjay Wijemanne, Isuru Gunasekera and Anura Seneviratne.
So to give expert comments on the tennis scene George Paldano is ready to target players and parents with instructions to help the institution to organize tennis …for life. His coaching spans over three decades with a strong record in player development. It includes placing players in the ITF top 100, ATP ranking, national players and national team development in Europe and Asia. He has accreditation from the German Tennis Federation and has been attached to the Wilhelm Bungert Tennis Ranch Academy in Hilden, Germany for several years.
His tennis resume runs for pages and undoubtedly tennis readers and fans will find his column very entertaining and educative.
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