A press conference was held at the Ramada Hotel on the 19th of March in order to announce that a series of International Wheel Chair Tennis Tournaments will be held in the Island from the 16th to the 31st of March.
The tournaments that will take place are as follows:
· Negombo Tennis Open 16th-18th March at the Negombo Tennis Club
· Sri Lanka Open 20th- 22nd March at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association
· SSC Open 24th-26th March at the Sinhalese Sports Club
· World Team Cup Regional Qualifiers (Asia) 28th-31st March at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association
The first three tournaments which are considered to be Futures tournaments carry a total of US$ 2500 prize money each and the last tournament will serve as a qualifier in order to decide which countries move forward to compete in the World Cup which is scheduled to be held in Turkey. A host of players from South Korea, Australia, France, Italy, Canada, India and of course Sri Lanka are set to take part in the tournaments which will feature singles and doubles formats for both men and women.
The press conference which commenced at 6.00 pm was graced by a number of dignitaries including Mr. Iqbal Bin Issack (President of the SLTA), Mr. Pradeep Goonesekera (General Secretary of the SLTA), Mr. P.S Kumara (Chairman of the Wheel Chair Tennis Committee), Mr. Shiran Abeysekera (Secretary of the Wheel Chair Tennis Committee), and Mr. Tommy Ellawala (President of the SSC). Furthermore representatives of the sponsoring organizations namely DIMO, SLT, Lanka Wall Tiles and Ralhum Trading (ball sponsors for the tournaments) were present at the event.
The proceedings were kicked off by Mr Shiran Abeysekera who welcomed all those present at the media briefing. He also went on to congratulate the winners and participants of the first tournament played in Negombo in which the Sri Lankan Gamini Dissanayake beat his counterpart Upali Rajakaruna to win the singles event. He also went onto express his gratitude to the sponsors who in his words have paved the way for the development of Wheel Chair Tennis in the country.
Mr Issack was the next to address the gathering and besides welcoming all the players, he had the following words to say. ‘My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Mr. P.S Kumara for the great effort taken to improve the sport via your coaching expertise and your invaluable financial assistance’. ‘I would also like to give my warm wishes to Sri Lanka’s greatest wheel chair tennis players Upali Rajakaruna and Gamini Dissanayake who have brought success upon success to our nation’ he reiterated.
The event came to a close with the handing over of checks by the sponsoring organizations to Mr. Iqbal Bin Issack.
The Papare.com takes this opportunity to wish all the players the best of luck ahead of this wonderful series of tournaments.
