Sri Lanka down Iraq to gain Group III Promotion
The winning Sri Lanka team after their game against Iraq (from left) Renouk Wijemanne (Coach), Ashen Silva, Chathurya Nilaweera, Yasitha de Silva, Udith Wickramasinghe (Non-playing Captain), Harshana Godamanna, Thehan Wijemanne and Commodore Pradeep Karunatileke (Manager)
Sri Lanka came out victorious in the crucial decider match of the Asia Oceania Zone Group IV Event ‘A’ Tennis Tournament for promotion to Group III, when they outclassed Iraq by 2-0 at the SLTA clay courts in Greenpath, Colombo yesterday.
The two teams came into the final clash with unbeaten records, having taken the top spots in the two respective pools, which consisted of three teams — host Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh in Pool ‘A’ and Iraq, Brunei, Yemen and Maldives in Pool ‘B’. Three countries, namely Macau, Oman and Qatar withdrew from the tournament.
Sri Lanka earlier beat Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan by comfortable margins of 3-0 while Iraq overcame Brunei, Maldives, and Yemen with whom they underwent some anxious moments.
The Sri Lanka playing quartet, comprising of Yasitha de Silva, Harshana Godmanna, Thehan Wijemanne and Chathurya Nilaweera had a successful stint, as they did not concede a single set to their opponents.
It was a fitting end to career of Harshana Godmanna, who is based in the USA and had announced his retirement before the tournament got underway. Appearing in his last assignment for his motherland, Godamanna was able to end on a winning note when he crushed his Iraq opponent Adel Mustafa Al-Saedi with ease after Yasitha de Silva got the better of Abdullah Ali Hatem with the minimum of fuss by 2-0.
In the third and fourth playoff match Kyrgyzstan overcame Brunei while Bangladesh got the better of Yemen in the fifth and sixth playoff which was played concurrently.
Sri Lanka, having ended the campaign with success will now be joined by the winning team to qualify from the Asia Oceania Zone Group IV Event ‘B’ Tennis Tournament scheduled to held in Bahrain from October 17 to 22, which will be contested by 10 countries namely Bhutan, Cambodia, Guam, Kuwait, Mongolia, Singapore, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and host Bahrain.
| Results: | |
| Promotion Playoff: Sri Lanka beat Iraq 2-0 Singles: Yasitha de Silva (Sri Lanka) beat Abdullah Ali Hatem (Iraq) 2-0 (6/4, 6/2) Harshana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) beat Adel Mustafa Al-Saedi (Iraq) 2-0 (6/3, 6/2) 3rd-4th Playoff: Kyrgyzstan beat Brunei 2-1 Singles: Ilgiz Kamchibekov (Kyrgyztan) beat Billie Kee-Loong Wong (Brunei) 2-1 (6/4, 5/7, 6/1) Mirghaz Mirdzhaliev (Kyrgyzstan) beat Aiman Abdullah (Brunei) 2-0 (6/0, 6/0) 5th-6th Playoff: Bangladesh beat Yemen 2-1 Singles: Mohammad Rubel Hossain (Bangladesh) beat Halil Sallam (Yemen) 2-0 (8/0, 6/0) Ghassan Alansi (Yemen) beat Mohammad Kawser Ali (Bangladesh) 2-0 (7/6, 6/0) Doubles: Mohammad Rubel Hossain/Ranjan Ram (Bangladesh) beat Ghassan Alansi/ Halil Sallam (Yemen) 2-0 (6/2, 6/2)
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