Davis Cup Asia/Oceanic Zone Group III tournament is scheduled to be held at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) national tennis center in Greenpath, Colombo from June 15 to 19.
The tournament will see eight countries Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and host Sri Lanka fighting it out for promotion to the Group II in 2012.
The eight teams will be divided into two groups and will play against each other. The top two teams in each group will then play in a new promotion round robin which will culminate with the two highest placed nations being promoted to Group II.
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| The Sri Lanka team from which the final four will be selected. -Picture by Ranjith Perera. |
The bottom two teams in each group in the first stage will contest in a new relegation round robin pool which will end with the bottom two teams being relegated to Group IV in 2012.
The Sri Lanka team comprising of Asiri Iddamalgoda (non playing captain), Oshada Wijemanne, Harshana Godamanne, Rajeev Rajapakse, Thangarajah Dineshkanthan and Vimuktha de Alwis is supposed to be fielding the strongest side. This was revealed by Maxwell de Silva, President of the SLTA at a press conference held at the Ceylon Continental Hotel on Friday. Maxwell speaking further stated that it has been a very busy year for the SLTA as this will be the second international event to be conducted this year.
Earlier in the year we staged the ITF Junior event which had 29 regional teams from 15 countries taking part. This was the biggest event to be staged by the SLTA after a decade.
This in turn has given the local tennis fans a great opportunity to witness international events and good tennis. Besides that it would also create a great deal of interest amongst the youngsters who are taking to tennis in a big way.
Last year Sri Lanka who was in Group II was unfortunate to lose to New Zealand in a cliff hanger 3-2 but Harshana Godamanne one of the experienced players in the Sri Lanka side had the satisfaction of defeating a top ranked Kiwi player who is ranked ATP 340.
Asiri Iddamalgoda the non playing captain of the Sri Lanka along with Rohan de Silva is busy making preparations for this big event. Asiri speaking to the journalists at the press briefing stressed that we are confident of coming out as one of the two top teams who will gain promotion. Apart from Dineshkanthan Thangarajah and Vimuktha de Alwis the others have previous Davis Cup experience but they have played in international tournaments, so we are not leaving any stone unturned and will put the best foot forward in achieving our aim. All the matches will start from 10.00 a.m. each day with two practice days being allocated on June 13 and 14th.
The team members of eight playing countries:
Kuwait – Abdullah Maqdas, Mohammad Guareeb, Ali Guareeb, Hasan Almousa, Abdul Redha and A.H. Ashatti (non playing captain).
Lebanon – Bassam Beidas, Giovani Samaha, Karim Alayli, Patrick Chicri and Hussein Badreddine (non playing captain).
Malaysia – Si Yen Ming, Ariez Elyas Deen Heesham, Mohamed Nazim Khan, Mahmud Khan, Ahmad Deedat Abdul Razak and Deen Heshaam Tan Abdullah (non playing captain).
Myanmar – Aung Kyaw Naing, Phyo Min Thar, Nge Hnaung, Zaw Zaw Latt and Min Min (non playing captain).
Oman – Mohammed Al Nabhani, Khalid Al Nabhani, Abdullah Mohamed Ibrahim Al Balushi, Khalid Hamdi Hilal Al-Barwani and Siddiq Al Hashmi (non playing captain).
United Arab Emirates – Omar Khaled Hashem, Bahrouzyan Awadhi, Mohamed Nader Ali Baloushi, Hamad Abbas Janahi and Mohamoud Khalifa AlBalushi (non playing captain).
Vietnam – Thanh Trung Hoang, Quan Do Minh, Le Quoc Khanh. Huy Ngo Quang and Truong Quoc Bao (non playing captain).
Sri Lanka – Harshana Godamanne, Oshada Wijemanne, Thangarajah Dineshkanthan, Vimuktha de Alwis, Rajeev Rajapakse and Asiri Iddamalgoda (non playing captain). - MSA |
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