Colombo, Feb 18, 8.15PM – In a historic moment for tennis in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) is hosting the largest-ever tennis tournament – the Billie Jean King Cup Junior/Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Pre Qualifying event. The tournament is taking place at the SLTA courts in Greenpath from February 19 to 24.
The excitement kicked off with a grand opening ceremony yesterday at the Sri Lanka Tennis Headquarters, attended by 29 countries and 44 teams. The chief guest, Prof Shemal Fernando, Director General of Sports of Sri Lanka, added prestige to the event.
A total of 29 countries and 44 teams are participating in this prestigious event. Iqbal Bin Issac expressed his excitement about the positive impact on sports tourism, stating, “This is a great boost for sports tourism in our country. Over the last two weeks, we have booked over 1,800 room nights, which is a significant rise for us. The ITF has given us the opportunity to host many events, and we look forward to eight days of exciting tennis here in Sri Lanka.”
“We just had the opening ceremony with 29-30 countries present today for the Davis Cup Under-16 Tennis Tournament. This is one of the biggest events that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) is holding here in Sri Lanka,” remarked an enthusiastic Iqbal Bin Issac, the President of Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
Expressing gratitude, he added, “I thank the ITF and all the countries participating for choosing Sri Lanka. Some of them are visiting for the second or third time, showing the growing interest in our country. We have a lot of exciting things happening at the moment.”
The participating teams include 20 girls’ teams and 24 boys’ teams. The girls’ teams comprise Bhutan, Brunei, Hwuan, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Turkistan.
Meanwhile, the Junior Davis Cup features 24 boys’ teams from Bahrain, Cambodia, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kirikistan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Pacific Oceania, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkistan, and Yemen.
Sri Lanka is set to witness a thrilling eight-day spectacle of tennis, making history with the largest tennis event ever hosted in the country.
