Wijemanne calls for strong national programme for juniors
Thehan Wijemanne in action at the Davis Cup match
Thehan Wijemanne created history when he made his Davis Cup debut against Paraguay at the age of 16 following in the footsteps of his father Sanjay who represented Sri Lanka from 1989 to 1995.
“It’s a great achievement for him to get in at 16. Even I first entered the team when I was 18 and played at 19. It’s quite a fabulous achievement,” said Wijemanne proud of his eldest son’s feat.
“Last year was his defining year. He made it to the Junior Davis Cup last year where they actually qualified after three or four years of Sri Lanka not making it in the pre qualifying in the Asia/Oceania. That team comprising Nelaka Dissanayake, Chathurya Nilaweera, Thehan Wijemanne and Dhilvan Herath, won all their ties losing only to Syria in the final,” he said.
“That experience was great for the juniors and within a year Thehan managed to get into the senior DavisCup team,” said Wijemanne of his son who is captain of the Royal College team and top ranked under 16 player.
Sanjay Wijemanne, who won bronze medals at the Colombo and Madras South Asian Games, reiterated the need for a strong national programme at junior level if Sri Lanka is to keep pace with the world.
“The junior standard in Asia is high with a Japanese boy going onto win the Junior Wimbledon. From the SLTA (Sri Lanka Tennis Association) and Sri Lanka point of view, if we are to compete at that level, we need to have a strong national programme with sort of very good coaches. The amount of time almost four to five hours of solid tennis a day, with good physical training programmes,etc. That sort of professional set up needs to come to take these boys forward specially starting from the 12, 14, 16 level. Those are the age groups they have to focus on now. It’s almost like a 10-year plan. We need to put forward now,” said Wijemanne whose second son Nethvan represented Sri Lanka at under 12 level.
“The ATF (Asian Tennis Federation) has lot more competitions than during my time where it was only under 18 and under 16. Now they have a very strong under 14 programme where they had it in Sri Lanka. They play five matches because even if you lose, you keep playing for your position. That gives them lot of opportunities. Nethvan came ninth. From Thailand to Philippines to Singapore, they all have this ATF tournament. From a young age you are exposed to the quality or the standard you need to be ready for,” he said.
“Talent is there and the eagerness of the parents to support. The only thing missing is the national programme. Now each individual and parent are going after the coach and have your own support system. But if the national centre can have a national training programme and have the top guys being trained with the rest that I mentioned, and also have a support programme where they go for these international tournaments and compete, then it will be much better,” he said.