Sri Lanka will once again set foot on clay in their rightful place in the Asia/Oceania Group II of the premium international tennis team event, The Davis Cup. The Lions will face off against group toppers, Thailand, on the 3rd and 4th of February at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
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The World Cup of Women’s Tennis, the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the women’s premier international team tennis event.
The rivalry between the two nations date back to 1961 and Thailand has come out victor in the last 7 meetings since. On three of those occasions, a mere difference of one match decided the win for the teams and has ended with tie scores of 3-2. Thailand has made its’ way to the top seed of the group for 2018 after having an impressive run in the 2017 group II series. Beating out Kuwait and Philippines they managed to advance to the final against Pakistan. After trailing 2-0, Thailand fought their way back to enter a decider at 2-2, eventually losing out the promotion tie and settled for the top rank for the 2018 group II rubber.
Sri Lanka on the other hand, had a rough 2016 on tour having been relegated down to group III for 2017. They lost to both Thailand in a crucial tie ending 3-2 and faced a whitewash at the feat of Indonesia with a disappointing 5-0 loss. They played their round robin play-offs at home July of last, against 8 countries. They managed to maintain a perfect undefeated streak playing Syria, Pacific Oceania and Jordan and earned their way back on group II. The key players that turned the game around for Sri Lanka were veteran Harshana Godammane and Sharmal Dissanayake who took on the singles and doubles during the 6-day long tournament.
This year will be the first time in 15 years, Sri Lanka’s most experienced, Harshana Godammane will not be partaking in the tournament due to personal reasons. His absence will be a major loss to the Sri Lankan side but Coach Sudantha Soyza and Non-Playing Captain Rohan De Silva have filled in the gaps with more promising talent.
The team will be led by Royalist and five-time singles and doubles veteran, Sharmal Dissanayake. Sankha Athukorala and Yasitha De Silva will join him next in line with 5 and 3 years of experience in the Davis Cup respectively. Two freshers join them to cap the team of five – Alex Fairbanks and Dumindu Dilum. Both players have been training closely with the team the past few years and have been reserves for the team but this year will debut in the official five.
Although Godammane’s shoes may be too large to fill, the boys are confidents of making it work and are determined to make a difference the 8th time around.
