The Sri Lanka Men’s Tennis Team redeemed some of their lost pride when they regained promotion into the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II with a splendid performance at the SLTA Courts in Green Path on Saturday (22).

Sri Lanka who were demoted into the Group III following last year’s debacle in Indonesia came out with an improved performance to beat Qatar 2-0 in the deciding encounter.

Harshana Godamanna provided the perfect start for the home side as he sealed a convincing 6-3, 6-3 straight set victory over Shanan Mousain the opening singles match in just over one hours of time. 

Sharmal Dissanayake then added the finishing touches in style while outplaying Shannan Mubarak in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in the second singles after a battle which lasted nearly one and a half hours.  

Meanwhile, Lebanon were also promoted into the Group 11 stage of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania after they defeated Jordan 2-0 at the same venue.    

In addition, Turkmenistan and the UAE were relegated into the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1V from next year after both teams failed to put up a decent performance during the six-day event.     

Matchday 2: Harshana, Sharmal give Sri Lanka third successive win

By M. Shamil Amit

Harshana Godamanna won his third successive singles rubber when he defeated Yacoub Makzoume of Syria while Sharmal Dissanayake despite losing his singles to Kareem Al Allaf partnered Harshana to help Sri Lanka defeat the Syria pair to chalk up their third successive tie in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group III Davis Cup promotion tournament played at the SLTA clay court in Greenpath, Colombo on Thursday.

The win also saw Sri Lanka ending their round robin campaign with an unbeaten record with three wins from as many matches for Sri Lanka to come out on top in the Group A.

Meanwhile Lebanon too maintained their winning streak with a 3-0 win over Qatar to record their third successive win which saw them too ending the round robin campaign with an unbeaten record with four wins out of four to top Group B.

In the other matches played saw Jordan overcome Pacific Oceania 2-1 and Malaysia getting the better of UAE also with the same winning margin.

Sri Lanka has qualified to the semi final and will now meet the winner of the match between Malaysia and Qatar scheduled to be played today. The semi final is slotted to be played tomorrow.

Results:

Sri Lanka beat Syria 2-1
Singles - Harshana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) beat Yacoub Makzoume (Syria) 2-0 (6/1, 6/3). Kareem Al Allaf (Syria) beat Sharmal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (6/1, 7/6).
Doubles - Sharmal Dissanayake/Hasrhana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) beat  Kareem Al Allaf/ Majdi Salim (Syria) 2-0 (6/4, 6/1).

Jordan beat Pacific Oceania 2-1 
Singles - Mousa Alkotop (Jordan) beat Heve Kelly (Pacific Oceania) 2-1 (5/7, 6/1, 7/6). Colin Sinclair (Pacific Oceania) beat Mohammad Alyamani (Jordan) 2-0 (6/1, 6/4)
Doubles - Hamzeh Al-Aswad/Mousa Alkotop (Jordan) beat Brett Baudinet/Aymeric Mara (Pacific Oceania) 2-0 (6/4, 6/4).

Lebanon beat Qatar 3-0 
Singles - Hady Habib (Lebanon) beat Jabor Al-Mutawa (Qatar) 2-0 (6/1, 6/1). Giovani Samaha (Lebanon) beat Mubarak Shannan Zayid (Qatar) 2-1 (1/6, 6/4, 6/4).
Doubles - Jad Ballout/Najib Fakih (Lebanon) beat Mousa Shanan Zayed/Mubarak Shannan Zayid (Qatar)m 3-0

Malaysia beat UAE 2-1
Singles - Mohd Asari Merzuki (Malaysia) beat Hamad Abbas Janahi (UAE) 2-0 (6/1, 6/1). Omar Alawadhi (UAE) beat Ahmed Deedar Abdul Razak (Malaysia) 2-1 (7/6, 0/6, 6/0).
Doubles - Christian Didier Chin/Mohd Asari Merzuki (Malaysia) beat Fahad Janahi/Hamad Abbas Janahi (UAE) 2-0 (6/2, 6/4).

Matchday one: Harshana, Sharmal give Sri Lanka sound start

By M. Shamil Amit

Harshana Godamanna and Sharmal Dissanayake gave Sri Lanka a sound start in their opening matches of Asia/Oceania Zone Group III by winning their singles rubbers against Jordan in a Pool A tie played at the SLTA clay courts in Greenpath, Colombo on Monday.

The two wins recorded by the Sri Lankan players virtually assured them the three-set tie even though the duo had to retire in the doubles encounter after conceding the first set and trailing in the second set.

Harshana and Sharmal recorded convincing wins with the former getting the better of Seuf Adas and the latter overcoming Mousa Alkotop with ease.

Sri Lanka will be aiming to get back to Group II after they were relegated to Group III when they were soundly beat 5-0 by Indonesia last year ending their five-year run in Group II.

In the other Pool A tie between Pacific Oceania and Syria, Pacific Ocenia gained a 2-1 victory with Heve Kelly and Colin Sinclair winning their singles matches.

The Pool B encounter between Lebanon and Turkmenistan saw the Lebanese beginning their campaign with a 2-1 win with Hady Habib and Giovani Samaha coming out victorious in the singles encounter.

In the contest between Qatar and United Arab Emirates, the Qataris, after losing the first singles to their opponents, came back to win the singles and doubles encounters to pull off a 2-1 victory -- their first win in a tie since 1996.

Results:
Sri Lanka vs Jordan - Singles – Harshana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) beat Seuf Adas (Jordan) 2-1 (6/3, 6/2), Sharmal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) beat Mousa Alkotop (Jordan) 2-0 (6/2, 6/4); Doubles – Hamzeh Al-Aswad/Mousa Alkotop (Jordan) beat Sharmal Dissanayake/Harshana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (4/6, 5/6, Rtd)
Qatar vs United Arab Emirates - Singles – Omar Alawadhi (UAE) beat Jabor Al-Mutawa (Qatar) 2-1 (2/6, 6/4, 6/1); Shannan Mubarak Zayid (Qatar) beat Fahad Janahi (UAE) 2-0 (6/2, 6/4); Doubles – Shanan Mousa Zayed/ Shannan Mubarak Zayid (Qatar) beat Omar Alawadhi/Hamed Abbas Janahi (UAE) 2-0 (6/4, 6/4)
Lebanon vs Turkmenistan - Singles – Hady Habib (Lebanon) beat Georgry Pochay (Turkmenistan) 2-0 (6/0, 6/1); Giovani Samaha (Lebanon) beat Yuriy Rogusskiy (Turkmenistan) 2-0 (7/6(1), 6/2); Doubles – Aleksandr Ernepesov/Isa Mammetgulyyev (Turkmenistan) beat Jad Ballout/Najb Fakih (Lebanon) 2-1 (3/6, 7/6)1), 6/4)
Pacific Oceania vs Syria - Singles – Heve Kelly (Pacific Oceania) beat Yacoub Makzoume (Syria) 2-1 (6/3, 1/6, 6/2); Colin Sinclair (Pacific Oceania) beat Kareem Al Allaf (Syria) 2-0 6/4, 6/0); Doubles - Yacoub Makzoume/Majdi Salim (Syria) beat Brett Baudinet/Aymeric Mara (Pacific Oceania) 2-1 (6/3, 1/6, 6/3)