The Pre-Qualifying matches amongst the Asia/Oceania region for the ITF World Junior Tennis Tournament began on Friday, 4th March.
The matches will be played till the 9th of March with the boys’ matches taking place at SLTA courts and the girls’ matches at the courts at Gymkhana Club.
Sri Lanka Tennis Association has the honour of playing host to these games which will be participated by over 20 teams and lead to the ITF World Junior Tennis competition which is an initiative to uplift junior tennis around the world.
Photo Album – World Juniors Tennis Championship 2016 / Junior Davis Cup 2016
At the conclusion of games on day 1, in the boys’ category, the lead in Group A was taken by Kazakhstan, Group B by Iran, Group C by Kyrgyzstan and Group D by Sri Lanka. The girls’ category plays in two groups, with the Philippines and Lebanon favoured in the Group A points table and Sri Lanka and Iran leading Group B.
Each team would have to play two singles and one doubles against their opponents. The teams leading the Men’s points table gained their points when Kazakhstan won 3 matches against Iraq, Iran won all three of their matches against no.2 ranked Singapore, Sri Lanka won their matches against Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan won against Oman.
Philippines, favourites to rank the highest in the girls’ category headed Group A by winning against Singapore, and Sri Lanka led Group B by beating Turkmenistan.
On the second day of play, Syria won the Men’s doubles and the second Men’s Singles against Iran but lost their first Singles, 4-6 2-6. Kuwait won all three of their matches against Oman, Saudi Arabia beat Turkmenistan and Iraq beat Brunei in the men’s category. With this, Syria took Iran’s place at the top of Group B but the rest of the standings remained unchanged.
In the girls’ matches, though Clare lin-yi Cheng won her singles for Singapore 6-2 6-0, her teammates lost to their opponents, Lebanon. The players from the Philippines beat Jordan, Sri Lanka beat Nepal and Iran beat Turkmenistan, in all their matches – two Singles and one doubles.
Sri Lanka stood tall in the Group B standings and Philippines remained at the top of Group A. The only change in the girls’ rankings was Singapore’s promotion to the third position in Group A.
The Sri Lankan Boys, Ashen Silva and Nelaka Dissanayake will compete against Saudi Arabia on the 6th and the girls’ Anjalika Kurera, Anika Seneviratne and Savini Jayasuriya will face Iran.
The complete breakdown of results of matches played on 5th March is as follows:
BOYS
| GROUP A | BRUNEI – IRAQ | |
| MS2 | KWANG, HANG – SABER, MOHAMMED | 0-6 0-6 |
| MS1 | SII, BEN – HUSSEIN, ZANKO | 0-6 2-6 |
| MD | SII, BEN LAI, KIERAN AL-SHAMMARI, ALI SABER, MOHAMMED | 0-6 2-6 |
| GROUP D | SAUDI ARABIA – TURKMENISTAN | |
| MS2 | ALOBAIDAN, QASSIM MOHAMMAD – GELDIYEV, ISKENDER | 6-1 6-1 |
| MS1 | TAWFEEQ A, ABDULLAH – VEPAMYRADOV, SERDAR | 6-1 6-1 |
| MD | TAWFEEQ A, ABDULLAH ALOBAIDAN, QASSIM MOHAMMAD DAYANJOV, ALLANUR GELDIYEV, ISKENDER | 6-2 6-1 |
| GROUP B | SYRIA-IRAN | |
| MS2 | AL-AZMEH, TAYM – ABBASI, ROHAM | 4-6 2-6 |
| MS1 | DJAROUEH, PIERRE – DOKMEHCHIN, SOHRAB | 6-1 6-3 |
| MD | DJAROUEH, PIERRE AL-AZMEH, TAYM ABBASI, ROHAM DOKMEHCHIN, SOHRAB | 4-6 6-4 [10-8] |
| GROUP C | KUWAIT – OMAN | |
| MS2 | ALSHATI, ALI – AL RAISI, ABDULLAH | 6-2 6-2 |
| MS1 | ANTAR, BADER – AL RAWAHI, MUNEER | 6-2 6-2 |
| MD | ANTAR, BADER ALSHATI, ALI AL KHANJARI, MARWAN AL RAWAHI, MUNEER | 6-3 6-0 |
GRILS
| GROUP A | SINGAPORE LEBANON[4] | |
| MS2 | CHENG, CLARE LIN-YI – HAYEK, ANNA MARIA | 6-2 6-0 |
| MS1 | GOH, JOELLE YI MIN – EL DIB, NOUR | 6-2 3-6 4-6 |
| MD | GOH, JOELLE YI MIN CHENG, CLARE LIN-YI EL DIB, NOUR MASSOUD, MYRIAM | 5-7 7-6(2) [6-10] |
| GROUP A | PHILIPPINES[1] JORDAN | |
| MS2 | VITALIANO, MILES ALEXANDRA – AL-KHATIB, JANA | 7-5 6-0 |
| MS1 | EALA, ALEXANDRA – ALQUDSI, RANDA | 6-0 6-1 |
| MD | VITALIANO, MILES ALEXANDRA CARLOS, MA. CARMENCITA ISABELA AL-KHATIB, JANA JOUDEH, HAYA | 6-2 7-6(5) |
| GROUP B | SRI LANKA[2] NEPAL | |
| MS2 | KURERA, ANJALIKA – TAMANG, SALONI | 6-1 6-1 |
| MS1 | 2 SENEVIRATNE, ANIKA – KOIRALA, PRERANA | 6-2 6-0 |
| MD | KURERA, ANJALIKA JAYASURIYA, SAVINI KOIRALA, PRERANA TAMANG, SALONI | 6-0 6-0 |
| GROUP B | TURKMENISTAN IRAN[3] | |
| MS2 | KARAJAYEVA, ROZHAN – SHOEIBI, MAHSHAD | 1-6 1-6 |
| MS1 | USMANOVA, RENATA – KHANLOO, MAHTA | 3-6 6-7(5) |
| MD | KARAJAYEVA, ROZHAN SHOEIBI, MAHSHAD ZEYNALPOUR, NILOUFAR | 2-6 1-6 |
