Tennis: Sri Lanka takes on Lebanon in must-win Davis Cup tie

Sri Lanka will take on Lebanon in a must win Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Zone Group 11 tie at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts at Greenpath on June 17, 18 and 19.   This was announced at the pre-match media briefing held at the SLTA recently.   This is a relegation playoff for both teams as the team which loses this tie will be playing group 111 in 2016 while the winners will stay on in group 11 in 2016 as well.   Sri Lanka who qualified for group 11 in 2010 after a considerable length of time has been continuously in group 11 since 2011 where they were promoted again after being relegated in 2010. Sri Lanka is coming into this tie after having lost to the Philippines in a tough battle in Manila in March.   The Lebanese lost to Chinese Taipei to reach this stage to play in this crucial tie. This match will consist of five matches of four singles and one doubles match.   The singles matches will be played on Friday (17) and Sunday (19) while the doubles match will be played on Saturday (18).   All matches will be the best of five tie break sets. The Sri Lankan team comprises of Harshana Godamanne, the No.1 player, Thangarajah Dineshkanthan, Sharmal Dissanayake and Sankha Athukorale with Rohan de Silva as the non-playing captain. The Lebanon team comprises of Giovani Samaha, Hady Habib, Jad Ballout, Ibrahim Abou Chahine, with Hussein Baddreddine as the non playing captain. The balls used for this tie will be Wilson US open and the match will be played on the clay surface.   Chahoon Im from Korea is the Referee for the tie while Leena Nageshkar from India is the Chief of Umpire with Anjana de Silva as the deputy.   The two chair umpires are Dinusha Wijesuriya and Dharaka Ellawala, the local white badge umpires. The Tournament Director for the tie is Dinith Pathiraja with Shalini de Silva, Bernie Rupasinghe, Tissangani Kodituwakku, Zareena Saleem, Nirmala de Silva, Jagath Welikala, Shiran Wijesinghe and G. Indrakumar being the organising committee assisting the Tournament Director in the organizational aspects of this tie. With the Sri Lanka Tennis Association celebrating its 100th year in 2015 elaborate arrangements are being made to make this all important tie a success.