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Sankha Atukorale beat Guyanga Weerasekera in a hectic three setter to claim the second place, behind Rajeev Rajapakse, in this year’s Davis Cup trials that were concluded at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) hard courts in Colombo on Saturday (7).
After being set-all, Atukorale had been leading 5-0 in the third before Weerasekera came back to equalise at 5-5. Atukorale then took the next two games to win the match and earn the second place in the six-day trials series held in preparation for next April’s Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group-III to be held in Syria.
Meanwhile in the other trials, Michael Siyaguna who had already been out of contention for being selected for this year’s Sri Lanka team gave a walk over to Rajapakse.
The final standings of the Davis Cup trials are as follows: 1. R. Rajapakse, 2. S. Atukorale, 3. G. Weerasekera, 4. A. Jayawickrema and 5. M. Siyaguna.
The first three players will be picked for this year’s team to join Harshana Godamanna, the fourth player, who was selected by the two-member selection panel of the SLTA Interim Committee, Asiri Iddamalgoda and P. S. Kumara, considering Godamanna’s international ATP rankings and his current playing abilities.
Final Results of Trials–
March 2:
R. Rajapakse bt A. Jayawickrema 6-0, 6-0,
S. Atukorale bt M. Siyaguna 6-3, 7-5
March 3:
R. Rajapakse bt G. Weerasekera 6-3, 6-1
A. Jayawickrema bt M. Siyaguna 6-1, 6-3
March 4:
S. Atukorale bt A. Jayawickrema 6-4, 6-3
March 5:
G. Weerasekera bt A. Jayawickrema 7-6, 6-4
R. Rajapakse bt S. Atukorale 6-3, 6-2
March 6:
G. Weerasekera bt M. Siyaguna 6-0, 6-1
March 7:
S. Atukorale bt G. Weerasekera 6-3, 0-6, 7-5
R. Rajapakse w/o from M. Siyaguna. D.S. to be next Interim Chairman?
While many names have been suggested during the last few months to take over as the Chairman of the Cricket Interim Committee, the government seems to have finally settled on former spinner D.S. de Silva to be the new cricket boss.
De Silva, currently an employer at the cricket board in the capacity of consultant to the President on cricket, is likely to be installed as the new Interim Committee Chairman on Monday.
Nishantha Ranatunga, the younger brother of former chairman Arjuna, is tipped to become the Secretary of the new Interim Committee, sources said.
The names of Sidat Wettimuny, K. Mathivanan and Lalith Wickramasinghe had been suggested to be member of the new Interim Committee.
