Harshana celebrates 50th appearance with Sri Lanka’s promotion
Shamal Dissanayake
Harshana Godamanna celebrated his 50th Davis Cup appearance by guiding Sri Lanka to get back to the Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group II with a convincing 2-0 win over Mubarak Shannan Zayed of Qatar in the Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group III promotion tie play off against Qatar played at the SLTA clay court in Greenpath, Colombo yesterday.
The left hander maintained his unbeaten record since the tournament began on July 17 as his win against the Qatari was his fourth on the trot apart from the doubles victory partnered by Sharmal Dissanayake.
Sharmal Dissanayake after winning his first singles tie on day one in the match against Jordan fell back when he was beaten in his next two appearances. Yet he was buoyed by Harshana’s win in the first game against Qatar and he bounced back to keep the Sri Lanka flying high when brushed aside the challenge of Qatari Mousa Shannan Zayid to give host an unbeatable 2-0 lead for Sri Lanka to ensure their promotion to Group II.
Sri Lanka after being in the Group II category for five years saw them being relegated last year after their 5-0 defeat to Indonesia in the relegation tie. After a year of relegation Sri Lanka will get back to where they were.
Harshana Godamanna -Pix by Amila Gamage
Meanwhile Lebanon who had a successful tournament by winning all their four matches in the round robin stage too made their way to the Group II with a convincing 2-0 win over Jordan which was played concurrently at the same venue.
If Harshana was the Sri Lankan star, for Lebanon it was Hady Habib who steered them when he began his sides’ promotion tie campaign match with a comfortable 2-0 win over Jordan’s Hamzeh Al Aswad which was his fifth successive win of the tournament.
Giovani Samaha added the icing on the cake with a 2-1 win against Mousa Alkotop in the second singles encounter which was sufficient for Lebanon to make their way to the Group II.
In the two relegation play-off matches which was also played at the same saw Syria getting the better of UAE 2-0 while there was a ding dong battle between Pacific Oceania and Turkmenistan with both sharing a win in the singles rubber and the deciding doubles encounter was in progress.
Results
1st to 4th Play-Off
Semi-Finals:
Sri Lanka vs Qatar
Singles – Harshana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) beat Mubarak Shannan Zayed (Qatar) 2-0 (6/3, 6/3). Sharmal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) beat Mousa Shannan Zayid (Qatar) 2-0 (6/4, 6/3).
Lebanon vs Jordan
Hady Habib (Lebanon) beat Hamzeh Al Aswad (Jordan) 2-0 (6/2, 6/0). Giovani Samaha (Lebanon) beat Mousa Alkotop (Jordan) 2-1 (6/4, 3/6, 6/2).
Pacific Oceania vs Turkmenistan
Singles – Aleksandr Ernepesov (Turkministan) beat Heve Kelley (Pacific Oceania) 2-1 (6/3, 1/6, 6/4). Colin Sinclair (Pacific Oceania) beat Isa Mammetgulyyev (Turkministan) 2-1 (4/6, 6/3, 6/2).
Syria vs UAE
Singles – Yacoub Makoume (Syria) beat Omar Alawadhi (UAE) 2-1 (4/6, 6/2, 6/3). Kareem Al Allaf (Syria) beat Fahad Janahi (UAE) 2-0 (6/4, 6/2).