Army Wheelchair Tennis Players in Italy's 'World Team Cup 2021' Secures Few Wins

Three Sri Lanka Army differently able players. Sergeant D.S.R Dharmasena of Sri Lanka Artillery Sergeant R.A.L.S Ranaweera, of Gajaba Regiment and Sergeant D.M Gamini (Medical Board out) from Gemunu Watch in the Sri Lanka Wheelchair Tennis Association recorded two wins against players from Belgium (World Ranking -8) and three wins against Brazil (World Ranking 7) in the recent Wheelchair Tennis World Team Cup 2021, held in Italy.

Sri Lanka beat Belgium 2-1 after losing to France 3-0, at this year’s World Team Cup (WTC) in Italy and Brazil (3-1). The Sri Lanka Wheelchair Tennis team led by Tokyo Paralympian D. S. R Dharmasena is the premier team competition for Wheelchair Tennis with four qualifiers and two wildcards joining the top ten teams in the world for the 16 nation competition, held in Sardinia, Italy.

Great Britain, France, Japan, Argentina, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, USA, Korea Rep. and Brazil are the top ten other teams. When the Team Cup qualification event was held in May, Sri Lanka beat Croatia 3-0 in the quarter-finals to be in the last four alongside Israel, Greece and Poland but was beaten by Israel in the semi-finals.

The Wheelchair Tennis Programme is a project run by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, initiated in 2002. The project is overseen by the President of SLTA, Iqbal bin Issack, General Secretary Pradeep Goonasekera, Vice President, Wheelchair Tennis Association Major General Shiran Abeysekera and the principal sponsor, Colombo International Container Terminals. These outstanding performances have uplifted their overall rankings in the Championship tournament.