Sri Lanka hosts Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group III 2023

Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group III

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Sri Lanka will once again host the 2023 edition of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group III event from 26th to 29th of July at Sri Lanka Tennis Association Clay Courts in Colombo. The Official Press Conference and Launch event was held on the 25th of July.

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There will be a total of 8 teams participating such as Cambodia, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Pacific Oceania and the hosts, Sri Lanka.

Group A Group B
Vietnam Pacific Oceania
Saudi Arabia Jordan
Iran Malaysia
Sri Lanka Cambodia

The teams that secure the top three positions in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group III will advance to the Davis Cup World Group II playoffs. This is an opportunity for these teams to progress to higher levels of the competition and potentially progress to the World Cup stage.

For the first time in the recent history, Sri Lanka, who have qualified from zonal Group IV in 2022 to Group III this time, will be fielding an all-young team.

The two leading campaigners for Sri Lanka in the five-member team will be Thehan Wijemanne and Chathurya Nilaweera, who both have an experience of nine ties between them. Wijemanne made his Davis Cup debut in 2020 whilst Nilaweera made his debut in 2021.

The other three players in the team are current Sri Lanka national champion Ashen Silva, Apna Perera and Dhilvan Herath. They are yet to make their Davis Cup debut.

Team Sri Lanka – Thehan Wijemanne, Chathurya Nilaweera, Ashen Silva, Apna Perera, Dhilvan Herath, Renouk Wijemanne (Captain/Coach), Commodore Pradeep Karunathilake (Manager), W.S Rajitha Perera (Strength and Conditioning Coach)

Sri Lanka’s non-playing Captain cum Coach Renouk Wijemanne is a past national champion and a former Davis Cup player. Team Manager, Commodore Pradeep Karunathilake from Sri Lanka Navy is also a Vice President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) referee for the event will be Mr. Amorn Duangpinkum (Silver Badge) from Thailand. Chief of Umpire Teerapat Sungkaworn (White Badge) from Thailand will be assisted by Sarangan Jeyachandran (National) from Sri Lanka. There will be a total of seven chair umpires (two bronze badge and five white badge). They will be assisted by a total of 30 Line Umpires and 40 Ball Kids.

President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, Mr Iqbal Bin Issack and General Secretary Mr. Pradeep Gunasekara along with the Chairman, Tournament and Matches, Mr. Suresh Subramanium has put in a tremendous effort to host this year’s tournament. They will be ably supported by Mr. Anupa Maththamagoda, who will serve as the Tournament Director for the event along with the Assistant Tournament Director Nithiyananthan Sylan.

Matches will commence with an opening ceremony on Wednesday, 26th of July at 9.30am at the Centre Court of Sri Lanka Tennis Association. Matches will commence daily at 10.00am.

The Davis Cup, World Cup of Tennis is known for its rich history and tradition in Men’s Tennis and it provides players opportunity to represent their countries and compete at an international level. The tournament has seen some of the greatest tennis players in history participate and has produced memorable moments in the sport.