Sri Lanka will have a crucial battle this weekend in Thailand when they face the hosts in the Davis Cup Group II Asia Oceania zone matchup that will start off in less than 24 hours.
The Sri Lankan team, which left for Thailand a week ago, has been spending time with their expertise coach Dominic Ultzinger and will be needing all the help they can get if they intend on moving forward in the draw against Thailand. Sri Lanka earned themselves the Thailand tie after they defeated Lebanon in a relegation matchup to keep their spot in the tier II while Thailand enters the second tier after a loss to Pakistan.
Sri Lanka have faced Thailand on six occasions in Davis Cup history and the first was way back in 1961. Unfortunately the Lankans have never had the privilege of defeating them on any occasion and their last meeting in a tie was in 2012 when the Thailand team travelled to Sri Lanka. There too Sri Lanka had to face a 3-2 defeat, which gives indications of the tough challenge ahead.
The draws for the matches were held ahead of the three-day clash and it will be Harshana Godamanne and Sharmal Dissanayaka who will be taking on the Thailand players. The Davis Cup consists of 4 singles and 1 doubles encounter and the Lankan veteran Harshana Godamanne will start off the battle in the 1st Single. Sharmal Dissanayaka will follow him in the second single. Day two will be the Doubles encounter and the two Royalists will team up to play the double and will follow up in the final day for the remaining two singles.
It will be definitely a daunting task for the two Lankans to play back to back games facing ranked players. Puriwat Chatpatcharoen of Thailand is their best player in the singles with a world ranking of 727 and he will be playing the first and third single. Their next in line Pruchya Isarow also has a world rank of 799 and will play Sharmal Dissanayaka in the second single.
However even if the Lankans find some luck in the singles, it looks to be uphill task to outgun Thailand in the doubles. The siblings Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana have been phenomenal doubles players in the international circuit and a world rank of 117 speaks a great deal about their capabilities.
Play will begin at the National Tennis Development Center (LTAT), Nonthaburi, Thailand on the 4th and will go on till Sunday the 6th of March 2016.
