| Wheelchair 
              tennis to get push-upSouth 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.  |