International Junior Tennis Team competition gets underway in Colombo

World Junior Tennis Competition (under 14), Boys and Girls, Junior Davis cup by BNP Paribas and Junior Fed cup by BNP Paribas (Under 16) Asia/ Oceania pre-qualifying events are taking place at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts at Green Path. 

The opening ceremony of the World Junior Competition was held on 5 March at the SLTA, while the Opening ceremony of the Junior Davis cup and the Junior Fed Cup was held on 10 March. 

The World Junior Competition boys and girls events was held from 3 to 11 March while Junior Davis cup and Junior Fed cup events that began on 10 March will go on till 18 March.

There are 46 teams representing 21 countries participating in this event this year, namely: Kuwait, Pakistan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Iran, Qatar, Pacific Oceania, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Malaysia, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Kyrgyzstan and the host country, Sri Lanka. This is one of the largest Junior International team competitions held in the country.

Two teams each from the World Junior Tennis Boys and Girls competitions, as well as the Junior Davis cup event, and three teams from the Junior Fed cup tournament, will be selected to take part in the final qualifying rounds. 

The Sri Lankan Boys Under 14 team comprises of Chaturya Nilaweera, Nelaka Dissanayake and Wenuka Kithnula, with Sankha Athukorale as the non-playing Captain, while the Sri Lanka Junior Davis cup team comprises of Kavisha Ratnayaka, Chaturya Nilaweera and Ashen Silva, with Ganendran Subramaniam as the non-playing Captain. The Sri Lanka Junior Fed Cup team comprises of Anjalika Kurera, Savini Jayasuriya and Oneli Perera with Thangarajah Dineshkanthan being the non-playing Captain.

Led by SLTA President Iqbal Bin Issack, SLTA said it has done its best to make this event a success. All the courts at the SLTA will be used for the matches and they have undergone a facelift and repairing, so that they are in pristine condition for these events.

“The SLTA has worked hard to make this event a success. We have spent a lot of effort and time not just in organising the event but most importantly on the preparation and practice for the players. We are confident that our players will give a good account of themselves and qualify for final qualifying,” said Issack. 

Tony Glentworth of New Zealand is the referee for all the events with Sri Lankan Dharaka Ellawala as the Assistant Referee. The other officials include the Sri Lankan white badge officials Dinusha Wijesuriya, Prasad Jayalatharachchi, Anjana De Silva and Avantha Suranimala as well as a number of National umpires helping with the mammoth task of officiating the event. Amir Borghei and Jonathan Stubbs are the ITF representatives at the event. 

These tournaments, including 46 International teams with over 135 players and 40 officials representing their countries, are a massive organisational task which is being handled by Dinith Pathiraja as the tournament director, with the SLTA CEO Ronnie Gunaratne, Zareena Saleem, Shiran Wijesinghe, Nirmala De Silva, Bernie Rupasinghe, S Indrakumar, Kavindu Diluka, Milinda Randeniya, Shenal Perera, Stellon Eardley, Naveen Abeygooneratne and Raveen Abeygooneratne being the other tournament committee members.

The Global Towers hotel will be putting up all the teams, as the official hotel for the events, while Fun Holidays Ltd is handling the transport of all the teams and the officials for the duration of the event. Head ATP will be the tournament ball for the World Junior Boys competition and the Junior Davis cup competition, with Dunlop Fort Elite being the tournament ball for the World Junior Girls competition and Wilson US Open being the tournament ball for the Junior Fed cup.

With the young talent of the region on show in the coming two weeks, this will be a good insight into the future of tennis in this region. Since entrance is free, it is hoped that all tennis enthusiasts will flock to the SLTA to watch them in action.

Pix By Ruwan Walpola