Some of the leading tennis administrators, including a member of the proposed national selection committee, are engaged in ‘sparring’ with leading players of the country creating fears that there would be favouritism happening in future team selections, it is reported.

‘Sparring’ is a common practice in many sports where either a professional or a senior plays with an amateur with a view to improve his or her playing standards mostly for a fee.

"How can a selector do ‘sparring’ with players who are part of a leading tennis squad in the country? Won’t such players have undue advantage in selections?," asked one parent of a player on the grounds of anonymity as his son is presently training under the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) coaching programme.

When quarried about the issue, Aasiri Iddamalgoda, former Davis Cup player and one of the present Vice Presidents of the SLTA, accepted there was an ethical aspect involving when any SLTA official does ‘sparring’ with a prospective player for a fee.

"There will be technical guidelines laid down to select players for an event like the Davis Cup and therefore I don’t think there would be a possibility where ‘sparring’ creates an unfair effect on selections. But there is a possibility for a conflict of interest to take place," explained Iddamalgoda who maintained it was not ethical for any official holding office in tennis administration to do either coaching or ‘sparring’.

Meanwhile Rohan de Silva, another Davis Cup rep for Sri Lanka who has been nominated for the proposed national selection committee, agreed to Iddamalgoda’s opinion.

"It’s true that such a thing is not ethical. I myself have to stop ‘sparring’ if I am to work in future as a national selector," de Silva added.