• Sri Lanka gears for Davis Cup
• Dejected Omar
• Vibrant Rashan Peiris
• Hundred years of Davis Cup tennis

Sri Lanka gears for Davis Cup

16-year-old schoolboy in squad

Sri Lanka hosts the 2000 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group III event in Colombo at the National Tennis Centre from February 7 to 13. Eight nations will participate in this event including Sri Lanka. The eight nations will be divided into two groups and play on a round robin/knockout basis to determine the winner and other positions. The nations participating are: 'Group A - Bangladesh, Qatar, Kuwait, Pacific Oceania; Group B - Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan.

This is by far the biggest tennis event that Sri Lanka will stage and following the Junior World Cup Cricket competition augurs well for the Sri Lanka's sporting image.

Sri Lanka's first entry into Davis Cup competition was in 1953 when it met Netherlands in the European zone and lost 5-0 in the first round played in The Hague. Sri Lanka's (then Ceylon) first Davis Cup team consisted of Douglas Scharenguivel, Percy Ernst, Douglas Fonseka, and Rupert Ferdinands with Hildon Sansoni as non-playing captain and Lionel Fonseka as manager. Thanks to the assistance of Mr. Chinnadurai the foreign Secretary of the Indian Tennis Association the Sri Lanka team had a short period of training in England under that outstanding British player Fred Perry.

Since then Sri Lanka has played in 67 ties in the Challenge round, Eastern zone and in the Asia/Oceania zone. Of these we have won only 21 ties. Not an impressive record. Sri Lanka has recorded most number of wins against Malaysia(7). Of the participating nations in this event Sri Lanka has recorded victories over Bangladesh, Qatar, Kuwait, Singapore, Syria and lost to Pacific/Oceania in 1997. It has not played against Tajikistan. With this record against the participating nations Sri Lanka should be confident of performing well. A win or runner-up position would enable Sri Lanka to move into Group II of the Asian zone in the year 2001.

The tournament will begin on 9th with the round robin event lasting 3 days. The knockout stage of the event will be held on 12th and 13th for final position. This is a prize money tournament with the winner receiving US$ 7000 and the runner-up receiving US$ 6000. The tournament is conducted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and organised by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association on its behalf. ITF will be represented at this event by Mr. Thomas Hallberg, Davis Cup Consultant. The referee for the event will be Mr. Hiroyuki Yahata of Japan. He will be assisted by Mr. Puneet Gupta (India), Mr. Gary Au-Yeng (Hong Kong), Mr. Abhishek Mukherjee (India), Mr. Saikat Roy (India), Mr. S. Alexander Bagdasarov (Uzbekistan), Mr. Asitha Attygala (Sri Lanka).

All teams will be housed at Hotel Ceylon Inter-Continental, the official hotel for the event and 'FISCHER' ITF approved balls will be used exclusively. The Sri Lanka team is sponsored by AGGREKO the international power generation company with regional office in Middle East and Headquarters in Scotland.

A welcome ceremony has been arranged for the visiting players at the official Hotel on 7th February while the event opening ceremony will be on the morning of 9th at 8.30 a.m. Admission tickets are available at SLTA.

Order of play:

Day 1: Wednesday, February 9: Group A: Bangladesh v Kuwait; Qatar v Pacific Oceania; Group B: Sri Lanka v Singapore; Syria vs Tajikistan.

Day 2: Thursday, February 10: Group A: Bangladesh v Pacific Oceania; Qatar vs Kuwait; Group B: Sri Lanka v Tajikistan; Syria v Singapore.

Day 3: Friday, February 11: Group A: Bangladesh v Qatar; Kuwait v Pacific Oceania; Group B: Sri Lanka v Syria; Singapore vs Tajikistan.

Day 4: Saturday, February 12: Number 1- Group A v Number 2 - Group B; Number 2- Group A v Number 1- Group B; Number 3- Group A v Number 4- Group B; Number 4 - Group A v Number 3- Group B.

Day 5: Sunday, February 13: Match for 1st and 2nd Position; Match for 3rd and 4th Position; Match for 5th and 6th Position; Match for 7th and 8th Position.

The Sri Lankan team

Suresh Subramaniam - Non-playing Captain: Age 40 years, and educated at Royal College. He was the coach of the Sri Lanka Davis Cup Team in 1989. Suresh is known for his hard work and commitment to take Sri Lanka to victory.

Popularly known as Sri Lanka's Nick Bollettieri. Doubles National Champion in 1982 and 1983 and was ranked No. 1 in the Sri Lanka rankings in the doubles from 1982 to 1984.

Jayendra Wijeysekera - Player : Age 30 years, and educated at S. Thomas' College. The most experienced player in the team and Sri Lanka's chances of victory will depend to a great extent on him.

Jayendra has represented Sri Lanka at Davis Cup from 1988 todate. Captained the Sri Lanka Davis Cup team in 1998 and 1999. Men's National Champion in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Rohan De Silva - Player: Age 27 years, and educated at S. Thomas' College. The only left-handed player in the team. Rohan has the ability to raise his game to outmatch his opponent, and is expected to pull off some interesting wins.

He also could be considered as the best doubles player in the country. Employed at AirBus Company. Represented Sri Lanka at Davis Cup from 1989 todate. Men's National Champion in 1990 and 1993.

Aasiri Iddamalgoda - Player: Age 26 years, and educated at D. S. Senanayake College. Employed at Eagle Insurance Company. A solid baseline player, with an effective serve. His game is suited for the slower courts surfaces at the SLTA. Represented Sri Lanka at Davis Cup in 1999, and was the Men's National Champion in 1998.

Sanjeev Paramanathan - Player: Age 16 years, and a student of Royal College. Represented Sri Lanka at Davis Cup in 1999. The current National Junior Champion. He captained the Sri Lanka Junior team at the Asian School Games.

Sanjay Wijemanne - Manager: Age 28 years, and educated at Royal College. Employed at HongKong Bank.

Instrumental in obtaining tennis equipment and grants for the players. Represented Sri Lanka at Davis Cup in 1989,1990,1991 and 1995.

Sudantha Soysa - Coach: Age 29 years, and educated at S. Thomas' College. He is an ITF qualified coach.

He trained the Davis Cup team in 1994. Sudantha is currently coaching the best junior players in the country under the SLTA's Junior Development Programme.

Dejected Omar

By Ravi Nagahawatte

Sri Lanka's dynamic flanker Haris Omar is a dejected man today.

The 23-year-old's illustrious rugby career has come to a grinding halt due to a knee injury.

Many followers of the game had ear-marked him as another Hisham Abdeen, the rugby player who rocked the scene with his power-play in the 1980s. However, a knee-injury cast a pall of gloom on Haris Omar and he has been languishing on the side-lines for the past nine months.

Any injury to a player has its period of agony, uncertainty and pain. All this Haris bore with pride and dignity. But when the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union looked the other way when he asked for financial help so that he could get his knee operated, it was the last straw.

Omar says in disgust: "This is the type of help that a rugby player in this country can expect".

According to Omar the injury occured at the 1998 ASIAD in Singapore and was aggrevated during the 1999 Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament. "I was injured while playing for the national side and it is only right for the union to help me out in some way", Omar told The Sunday Times.

A letter sent by Omar to the President of the SLRFU, Anton Benedict, requesting some form of financial assistance was turned down when a reply was sent to him stating that the medical report had varied with his claim.

However he was not alone when he began his battle for 'survival' backed by doctors, sports promoters and private donors. With a lot of community help Omar was able to undergo surgery in Sydney and is now on the road to recovery.

He first consulted Dr. Chanaka Wijesekara who had made it clear that their were no proper facilities in Sri Lanka to perform that kind of operation successfully.

He had then sent his reports to Dr. Siri Kannangara, in Australia, and had made arrangements to go abroad for the operation. Kannangara had then directed him to Dr. Warrick Bruce who had operated on him. The operation had cost 15000 Australian Dollars but when the authorities came to

know that he was not getting help from the SLRFU they had reduced the cost by 6000 Australian Dollars!

According to Omar he had torn his front ligaments-cruciate ligament - on the right knee and had found it difficult to be steady on his feet while playing.

However following the completion of the Sevens tournament in March last year the former Trinitian had decided to give his services to his club as he was captaining the side.

He had run a great risk in playing with an unstable knee. Omar had also been forced to take precaution against the possibilities of opponents causing further damage to his knee.

"One straight knock was all that was needed to put me out of rugby for the rest of my life. I wondered how to go on. I feared an opponent falling on my knee. I was living with the fear of someone capitalizing on my weakness", Omar said while recalling the scary days he survived last season.

Omar's mother had been very much moved by his condition and had suggested her son to give up the sport.

His father, Izwahan Omar, a reputed ruggerite himself, had however thought his son should continue.

"He loves the sport so much. I told him to continue and play if he is selected for the national side", said Izwahan.

What annoys Omar is the fact that most of the top officials had agreed when he made them aware that surgery was needed and he needed time off the game.

And to add to the bad times that Omar was going through a rumour had spread like wildfire that he was boycotting national team games.

"Rugby has made me who I am. The pride of wearing the national jersey and playing for Sri Lanka is one of the greatest things I have achieved in life. So why should I quit playing?", asked Omar.

Omar's main grievence with the SLRFU is that the players were not insured on tours that he made from 1996 to the 1999 Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, his last appearance for Sri Lanka.

However when the SLRFU president was contacted for his views he maintained that all players were insured.

"As for Omar he was not injured while playing for Sri Lanka. The report given is not factual. The medical report confirms it. He had a shin injury and not a knee injury as stated. He could have claimed compensation if he had made a claim as soon as he came to Sri Lanka. But he continued to play. This shows that he was not injured. We have, however, recommended his application for a claim to be compensated from the President's Fund", said Benedict.

"When it mattered most, continuing to serve rugby was a question mark. It is my club, Dilip Kumar and Jayantha Weerasinghe (in Australia) , Siri Kannangara, Chanaka Wijesekara and Dr. Bruce Warrick who helped me. I owe my future to these people. I am sorry to add that the SLRFU was of a different opinion", concluded Omar.

Vibrant Rashan Peiris

By Leonard Ratnayake

"A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky"

Thus wrote the English poet William Wordsworth about a woman called Lucy who was little known and perished even without being known.

But Sri Lanka is very lucky to have recognised the talents of young wicket-keeper batsman Rashan Peiris who has turned out to be a very useful cricketer and should be a great asset in the future.

He is not second to Romesh Kaluwitharana. Rashan is always in the habit of encouraging his team mates and make everyone come alive in the field.

Although Rashan can now hope for a bright future, his past has not been pleasant but certainly would have been the launching pad for his determination to do well.

Rashan who was deprived of the love of his parents, received a boost from the Prince of Wales College's cricket coach Bandula De Silva, whom he says was everything to him in life.

Coach De Silva's first noticed Rashan's cricket prowess when a neighbour De Mel called him to witness Rashan's prowess when he was playing softball cricket at Uyana Kanishta Vidyalaya in Moratuwa.

Rashan who impressed the Prince of Wales coach received the greatest gift in his life when he turned out for Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa when he was 12 years old.

Since then he has been engaged in school cricket and when he was 16 he got the chance to play for Sri Lanka Air Force, thanks to Group Captain Sriyan Samararatne. This was in the BCCSL's U-23 tournament.

He has impressed in every sphere and with hard work has emerged to what he is today.

Rashan Peiris who completed 18 years last week, was an outstanding schoolboy cricketer as well. As a right hand opening batsman and a wicket-keeper who represents Prince of Wales College Moratuwa he has scored 1053 runs during the last school season and has been responsible for 34 victims behind the stumps.

During the U-19 Youth World Cup tournament, Rashan played brilliantly scoring 90 runs in three innings with the highest score of 61 against India. He has been responsible for 16 victims including nine catches and seven stumping chances to his credit. He was one of the navigators who helped the Lankans to the grand finale.

His performance throughout the Youth World Cup was outstanding and came in for praise from Australian coach Rodney Marsh. Marsh was one of the best wicket-keepers the world has ever seen and said he was very very impressed with the young Sri Lankan stumper. His performance in the Youth World Cup was highly rated and he received the award for the best fielder in the series.

The Sri Lankan cricket entity should be very grateful to those who helped Rashan in his career. He will be a very useful cricketer in time to come.

A look back at the U-19 Youth World Cup tournament, one cannot forget the services of our opening batsman Ian Daniels who has been the most consistent batsman during the tournament. Daniels started his onslaught from the first match itself with an unbeaten 73 against Ireland, 25* vs Namibia and 40* vs Australia. He was unbeaten until his fourth innings, where he was unfortunate to be caught for 56 vs England. He was unbeaten against Nepal, but was dismissed cheaply for 14 against India. He came back strongly in the semi-final encounter against Pakistan by making a solid 58 runs. The Lankan team was unlucky and had a big set-back when Daniels was out for a 'duck' in the crucial final against India, from which Sri Lanka never recovered and lost the cup to India.

The recently concluded Youth World Cup gave us a hint about what the future of Sri Lankan cricket is going to be. It was a tremendous encouragement to the young team to be engaged at competitive level in the international scene.

Hundred years of Davis Cup tennis

By E. Pararajasingham

When Mark Philippoussis of Australia defeated Cedric Pioline of France 6,3; 5,7; 6,2; 6,2; in the Davis Cup final in Nice, another addition was made to the glittering trophy cabinet of Australian Sport.

They had already won the Cricket World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and the women's Net-ball crown. Winning the Davis Cup was probably the icing on the cake and a perfect stimulant to a nation who consider sports as a way of life and on the threshold of staging the 2000 Olympic Games.

The 1999 Davis Cup completes 100 years of Davis Cup competition.

The competition which began as the United States versus British Isles has evolved into the world's largest annual team sporting event.

It all began in 1899 when a twenty-year-old Harvard student from St. Louis named Dwight Filley Davis in a moment of ecstasy asked a Boston silversmith to shape 217 troy ounces of silver into a punchbowl.

He wanted this trophy to serve as the prize for an international challenge event. In 1900 when the Davis Cup was launched the only challenger was the British Isles. The Australians entered the competition in 1905 and won it for the first time in 1907. Since then they have won it 27 times.

The United States and Australia have dominated the event with the former winning it 31 times.

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