The Draw for the 2014 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas was held at the London offices of the competition’s title sponsor on Wednesday. (Pic courtesy ITF)
by Revata S. Silva
According to the draw the International Tennis Federation announced last Wednesday, Sri Lanka will take on the Philippines in Colombo from January 31 to February 2 in their first tie of next year’s Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group-II, sponsored by BNP Paribas.
The countries which will be in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group-II next year will be: 1. Pakistan, 2. Thailand, 3. Sri Lanka, 4. Kuwait, 5. Philippines (all retained their position in Group-II in 2013), 6. Indonesia (relegated from Group-I), 7. Vietnam and 8. Malaysia (promoted from Group-III).
The 2014 Davis Cup Draw was announced last Wednesday, Sep. 25, by the ITF in London.
Sri Lanka will play the Philippines in their eighth meeting. Sri Lanka has never beaten them. Sri Lanka’s second tie will be held from April 4 to 6 and her opposition in that is to be decided after the first round of ties of her Group, to be played in January.
Last April, Sri Lanka managed to retain her Group-II position for the third consecutive year beating Lebanon in a deciding fifth rubber in June. By doing so Sri Lanka managed to be in the prestigious Group-II for three straight years after 17 years in her recent Davis Cup campaigns.
Sri Lanka had never been able to successfully retain her place in the competitive Group-II at least for two consecutive years since the time she got relegated from Group-II to Group-III in 1996. Sri Lanka is expected to field a strong team next year. Harshana Godamanna, Dineshkanthan Thangarajah, Amresh Jayawickrema, Rajeev Rajapakse, Sharmal Dissanayake, Vimuktha de Alwis and Sankha Atukorale are considered to be strongest contenders to make the team in next year’s Davis Cup.
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