Sri Lanka Tennis Association will send a five member team for the up-coming 19th Common Wealth Games which will be held from Oct 3rd - 14th in New Delhi, India.
The team is namely Harshana Godamanna, Rajiv Rajapakse, Dineshkanthan Thangarajah, Amresh Jayawickrema and the only female player, Amritha Muttiah. The Non-Playing Captain is Rohan de Silva and Mr. Vipul Perera will accompany as the Team Manager.
The reigning national Champion Harshana and Amresh will be able to get a straight entry to into the Men?s singles Main Draw in tennis, introduced for the first time among the 17 other disciplines at the Common Wealth Games held every four years.
Rajiv will play in the doubles partnering Harshana and Dineshkanthan will play in the event?s Qulaifying Rounds. Amritha, who is the current Women?s National Champion, will appear in the Women?s Singles Main Draw and the Mixed Doubles partnering Harshana.
Tennis events will comprise of five categories i.e. Singles and Doubles ? Men?s/Women?s and Mixed Doubles, allotting Gold, Silver and a Bronze medal for each category.
The venue for tennis is the R.K Khanna Tennis Stadium, situated approx 22 km from the Games Village at Africa Avenue, Hauz Khas, NewDelhi. The stadium consists of six hard courts with over 5000 spectator capacity. The nearby Siri Fort Sports Complex will make available its nine courts for players training.
Sri Lanka did not send a team for the last Common Wealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and is hopeful that we will see some good results with this team who out of four, three are Davis Cup players with exposure to International Tennis.
HARSHANA GODAMANNA
Born : October 31st 1985
Height : 180cm
School : Royal College, Colombo
Back Hand : Single-handed
Started Tennis : At the age of 3
Racket : Wilson K-Factor Tour
Coaches : Sylvester Francis and Dominik Utzinger
Achievements:
National Level :Two national triple crowns (men?s singles, and mixed doubles) ? 2005/2006. Sri Lanka?s men?s No 1 for over 2 years before turning professional.
International : Winning the doubles title (with Bart Goverts) in a Pakistani ATP Futures tourney last November. Now holds below 1000 ATP world rank since Arjun Fernando and Suresh Sivagnanam.
Davis Cup : Playing for 5 years since 2002, except in 2004. Lost most of the matches in the first two years but enjoyed a 3-5, 4-5, 5-5 singles win loss record during the last three years consecutively.
RAJEEV RAJAPAKSE
Born : May 11th 1980
Height : 6ft
School : Royal College, Colombo
Back Hand : Single-handed
Started Tennis : At the age of 9
Racket : Wilson Prostaff
Coaches : Sudantha Soysa and Dominik Utzinger
Achievements -
National Level : Sri Lnka men?s singles runner-up 2002,2005,2006 and 2007. Sri Lanka men?s doubles winner 2003 (with Renouk Wijemanne) 2005 (with Renouk Wijemanne, 2006 (with Harshana Godamanna, and 2007 (Renouk Wijemanne)
International : Represnted Sri Lanka in Asian Games twice in Korea and Qatar.
Davis Cup : Debut in 1998. The most cherished moments are beating Malaysia the same year to enter Group 11 from Group 111 in Asia/Oceania Zone and qualifying from 1V to 111 in Jordan in 2004.
DINESHKANTHAN THANGARAJAH
Born : January 5th 1991
Height : 5?10
School : St Micheal?s College Batticoloa/ Scholarship St. Peters College
Back Hand : Double handed
Started Tennis : At the age of 7
Racket : Dunlop Aero Gel
Coaches : Dinith Pathirija (10 year period)
Achievements -
National Level : Junior national champion from years 2001-2009 in the under 10/12/14/18 age groups.
International : Ranked number one in Asian Zone 11 Group in 2005, played Junior Davis Cup in 2006 and was ranked 512 in the world in the under 18 ITF 2006. and won the 2009 Sri Lanka ITF singles and won 3 doubles champions in the under 18 championship 2009.
Davis Cup : First time Appearance 2010
AMRESH JAYAWICKREMA
Born : 13.01.1992
Height : 5?8
School : Ananda College
Back Hand : Double Hand
Started Tennis : 1999
Racket : Head
Coaches : Jayendra Wijesekera
Achievements -
National Level : 2008 under 16 & 18 Winner in Nationals
International : Semi finalist ITF Junior Circuit in Colombo 2010 in 3 times and ITF
Ranked 354
AMRITHA MUTTIAH
Born : 1992.01.12
Height : 5?2
School : Holy. Family Convent
Back Hand : Double Hand
Started Tennis : 2000
Racket : Wilson
Coaches : Jayantha Chandralal and SLTA Coaches
Achievements -
National Level : Women?s Singles Winner 2009 and 2010
International : Winner Girls Singles title in ITF Junior Circuit 2010 February Colombo
