Wheelchair
tennis to get push-up
South Asia Gateway Terminals (pvt) Ltd presented a sponsorship of
Rs 1 Million to uplift wheel chair tennis. This was announced at
a press conference held at the Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo recently.
Speaking to Sunday Times President of the SLTA told that "
We are delighted over SAGT's involvement in wheelchair tennis which
is appreciated by all for giving an opportunity for the less fortunate
segment of our society.
Secretary
of the SLTA's Wheelchair Tennis Col. Chrys de Silva told that in
the 1980's though wheelchair tennis started it died soon after.
The restart was only in 2002 where we were in D division, and now
we are promoted to the B division just after 3 years of active playing.
Earlier this year our side played with a lot of success in New Zealand
and Australia. Due to this achievement in a short period of time
they have given us 2 wild cards for the Paraplegic Olympics to be
held in Athens after the summer games.
SLTA's
CEO Lionel Almedia speaking at the media briefing thanked the sponsors
and the Trans Asia hotel for their continued support.
He
further stressed that we intend setting up a separate fund for wheelchair
tennis and the 1 million rupees from SAGT will go to launch that
fund". Up to now the game has been played by servicemen, chiefly
soldiers, all victims of the 20-year war. We would like to involve
the disabled civilians too, not only in a bid to search out talent
but also to bring some cheer into the lives of the less fortunate
among us he concluded. |