Sri Lanka men’s wheelchair tennis team at the World Team Cup in Sardinia, Italy on Thursday (30 September), when they beat the higher-ranked Brazil. (From left): R.A.L.S. Ranaweera, Coach Aad Zawan, SLTA President Iqbal Bin Issack, Gamini Dissanayake, and (seated) the Tokyo Paralympics rep Ranjan Dharmasena[/caption]
Sri Lanka lost to France in their first tie 3-0 but came back to win the next two in Group-4 round robins in Sardinia, Italy.
Sri Lanka beat Belgium 2-1 on Wednesday (29 September) before winning against Brazil yesterday.
It is an outcome of the commendable effort, made through many past decades, by Jagath Welikala, the Head Coach of Sri Lanka wheelchair tennis, SLTA’s current support coach Guyanga Weerasekera, and Aad Zawan of the Netherlands who trained the Sri Lanka team for this year’s World Team Cup, the annual World Cup of the sport.
Wheelchair tennis has been one of the success stories of Sri Lanka’s tennis, since the time it was initiated in the country under the SLTA President Suresh Subramaniam, current President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL).
General Shiran Abeysekera has been overlooking the sport over the years under the SLTA executive committee supervision.