By Shannon Jayawardena
Having advanced from Group Two to Group Three, the Sri Lankan tennis team will face Thailand in the 2018 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, which is to be held on 3 and 4 February at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts.
The team was in Group Three of the competition last year but was promoted to Group Two after the players achieved an unbeaten record in June 2017.
Sri Lanka is to play Thailand in the first round and will go on to play either Indonesia or the Philippines depending on the outcome of the match. The winners and losers of both matches will compete against each other.
Last year’s star player Harshana Godmanna will not be participating in this year’s games due to personal reasons. This year’s team consists of promising youngster Sharmal Dissanayake, who has a current world ranking of 1,455, Yasitha De Silva who is ranked 1674, Alex Fairbanks, Dumindu Dilum and Sankha Athukorale.
“We are playing against a strong opponent and played against them in 2016 which was a very close tie. We’ve been practicing and working hard for over a month now and hopefully we can give it our best this year,” said Dissanayake. The squad is being trained by Head Coach Sudantha Soyza and Manager Udith Wickremasinghe while the team will be led by Captain Rohan De Silva.
“The SLTA has worked hard to make this event a success. We have spent a lot of time and effort on the preparation and practice for the players. We are confident that our players will give a good account of themselves and will do their best to be successful,” said SLTA President Iqbal Bin Issak.
On the other hand Sri Lanka will be competing against Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul who is ranked 458, Jirat Navasirisomboon who is ranked 1,408, Palaphoom Kovapitukted who is 1,535 and the twins Sanchai Ratiwatana 98 and Sonchat Ratiwatana 110 of Thailand. The team will be led by Captain Weerapat Doakmaiklee.
The referee for the games will be Puneet Gupta of India while the Chair Umpires for the event will be Dharaka Ellawala and Dinusha Wijesuriya. Tournament Director Dinith Pathiraja and the SLTA President and his staff have contributed immensely to make the competition a success.
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