Sri Lanka miss golden opportunity
View(s):Unseeded Singapore created a major upset to win the Asian Zone ITF World Junior qualifiers when they defeated second seed Sri Lanka by 2/1 and top seed Malaysia in Kochin last week.
Sri Lanka had earlier looked of pulling through when Anika Seneviratne gave them the perfect start with a 6/1, 2/6, 6/1 victory over Singaporean Nadine Loh. Then Teresa Wong levelled the tie beating Natasha Munaweera 6/0, 2/6, 6/4.
In a surprise move Sri Lanka left out National No.2 Prabodi Perera even from the doubles and this resulted in Anika and Natasha getting beaten 4/6, 4/6 by Nadine and Natasha Loh who gave Singapore an unexpected victory. The decision to leave out Prabodi, who is playing her second year in the ITF World Juniors and partners Anika probably cost Sri Lanka the match. Prabodi and Anika are currently ranked at the top in the ITF Under-14s.
This outcome pushed Sri Lanka to play top seeds Malaysia. Sri Lanka started off strongly with Anika beating Sharifah Elysia 7/5, 3/6, 6/4 in a tough encounter. Anika was down 4/0 in the third set but reeled off six straight points to win the match. In the second single Sara Nayar beat Probodhi 6/0, 6/2 and in the doubles Sharifah and Sara combined well to beat Anika and Natasha 6/0, 6/4 to take Malaysia in to the final.
The final saw Singapore’s Nadine Loh beating Sharifah Elysia 5/7, 1/6 but Sara levelled the tie for Malaysia by thumping Teresa Wong 6/0, 6/0. In the doubles twin sisters Nadine and Natasha combined brilliantly to beat Sharifah and Sara 5/7, 6/3, 6/2.
Earlier Sri Lanka beat Iran 3/0 and Iraq 3/0. Anika remained unbeaten throughout the week-long tournament which saw 13 countries taking part. Singapore and Malaysia qualified for the next stage of the WTJ Asia Oceania to be held in May.
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Anika Seneviratne remained unbeaten during the whole of WTJ Asia Oceania tournament