A 5-member entourage has set off to Tajikistan to battle 5 nations at the 2019 edition of the Women’s senior Fed Cup Tennis Championship 2019. The tournament will commence on the 12th June and will carry through till the 15th June.

Photos: Sri Lanka Fed Cup Team 2019

This year, the 13 nations in Group II will compete across two different venues. 7 nations will join hosts Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, including Bangladesh, Hong Kong, China, New Zealand, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. 

6 nations will join hosts Tajikistan in Dushanbe, including Chinese Taipei, Iran, Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

In Dushanbe where Sri Lanka will contest, six teams will compete across two Pools of 3 teams (Pools A & B). The winners of each pool will play-off to determine which nation will advance to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I.

In Kuala Lumpur, seven teams will compete across 2 pools (Pools A & B). Similarly, the winners of each pool will face-off to determine which nation will advance to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I.

In total 2 nations from the Group II play-offs will be promoted to Group I in the Asia/Oceania region for the upcoming year.

Read More : Savini grabs 2019’s first Junior National Crown

For Sri Lanka, five national level young women are ready to take it to the courts in Tajikistan. 2 returning Fed Cup represents will be joined by 3 freshers who bring in experience from the Junior Fed Cup. The team will be accompanied by former National Tennis Player Guyanga Weerasekara as Non-playing captain and coach.

Janali Manamperi and Savini Jayasooriya will be the returning duo for the team, having played for the Sri Lanka Fed Cup team in 2018. Savini Jayasooriya is coming hot off the year’s first U18 Junior National title at the Clay Court Nationals while Women’s top seed Janali Manamperi secured 2nd place in the Women’s Open singles. The girls paired up in the Doubles event and emerged runners-up in the Women’s Open Doubles as well.

“I think we have a good team this year because we have some of the best Women’s tennis players in the team and we’ve been practicing well together. We have also been playing a lot of local tournaments in the past few months and we think we are ready for this!”, the pair said, ahead of the tour.

Joining Manamperi and Jayasooriya will be 2019 SSC Open Women’s champ Rukshika Wijesooriya, recently crowned ITF circuit champion Anjalika Kurera and 2019 Junior Fed Cup representative, Oneli Perera.

All three freshers have represented Sri Lanka in the Junior level of the game and will step into their senior nationals’ careers with this step up.

Read More  : Back to back National titles for Anika

Sri Lanka looks in form to take on tough competition in Tajikistan.

“On paper, Chinese Taipei has some singles ranked players in the world and will be a tough team to beat. Saying that, teams like Tajikistan, Iran and Singapore should be giving a good fight as well but all in all, we should be able to get some positive results next week” opined Guyanga Weerasekara, Non-playing captain and coach, before taking flight to Tajikistan.

The competition will kick off on the 12th of June in Dushanbe, Tajikistan with the draw scheduled to take place tomorrow (11th June). Stay logged onto ThePapare.com for updates, results and Sri Lanka’s journey at the Fed Cup Tennis Tournament 2019.

>>>Click here for more Tennis news<<<