Sports Ministry to take final decision in June first week - R.B. Wickramasinghe
[caption id="attachment_85344" align="alignleft" width="454"]
R.B. Wickramasinghe[/caption]
The decision whether to give green light for coaching and day-to-day playing in tennis will be announced in the first week of June, said Sports Ministry Assi. Director R. B. Wickramasinghe on Friday (22).
"We are still observing the developments of the situation in the country with regard to the pandemic. We are not going to take any risk whatsoever. We hoping to review situation and take a decision in June first week," he told 'The Morning Sports'.
"The special concern, regarding tennis, is that it involves equipment like balls which can be contaminated. The Coaches can start their coaching even now but strictly without using any equipment. They may use these two weeks to get their players to get into the rhythm for future practices with balls and rackets," he clarified.
"Everyone is affected due to this situation but we're not supposed to take any risk because of our social responsibilties," added Wickramasinghe.
SL tennis was one of the liveliest sports amid the pandemic
Reigning SL men's national champion Sharmal DissanayakeDuring the last few weeks, as the entire country was under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) has been conducting many online presentations, with the assistance of the local and foreign experts, to educate coaches and players in the country.
"It's not about having the right opportunity. It's about using the opportunity right," said Head of Tennis Development at the SLTA, Chris Barathi Pillai, last week.
"That was how we looked at our tennis during the lockdown. It was a matter of being positive."
Usefully and constructively -
Since mid March, after the coronavirus wrecked havoc causing all tennis activities to a complete and unprecedented standstill (the worst after World War II) like all other things, the SLTA officials, headed by its President Iqbal Bin Issack and General Secretary Pradeep Goonasekere, were finding new ways to keep the game alive.
One thing was to keep the interest among the tennis fraternity hot and live, in the most uncertain of times, and the other was to have them got prepared themselves in the best possible way for the challenges that would be awaiting them in the post pandemic world of sports.
Previous online session -
The session conducted online in the initial weeks of the lockdown was participated by the most prominent tennis player of the country at present, Harshana Godamanna, now living in USA, who discussed about the reasons for his success as a player and why he could not reach top 300 in the world during his heydays, before 2010. He earned a career-high 811 in October 2008.
The others to joined the chat were Riaan Kruger, Team Lead for Coaching at the Development Department of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Suresh Menon, former ITF Development Officer for Asia and a Davis Cup Coach of Malaysia, Johann Peiris, renowned Everest summit climber of Sri Lanka, and Chrishantha Perera, an ITF Level-2 Coach and Director of the 'Hit Tenniz Academy' in Colombo.
The National Olympic Committee (NOC) was supporting the online programmes initiated by the SLTA.
SLTA - creating a new benchmark
[caption id="attachment_85340" align="alignleft" width="444"]
Chris Barathi Pillai, Head of Tennis Development at the SLTA[/caption]
The SLTA, being one of probably the second-category sports bodies in SL --coming after more prominent local governing associations of sports such as cricket, rugby, athletics, and football--, was on full flow, so to say, during the past eight weeks when most of the national sports, out of over 60 of them, were more or less 'idling at home'.
Some of their work during troubled times included:
* Conducting online presentations
* SLTA coaches teaching lessons on the internet
* Holding online discussions
* Conducting many Webinars or web-based seminars joining experts from various areas in tennis, and from SL and abroad
Latest SLTA webinar / Q&A today
Issues pertaining to SLTA governing matters, team selection criteria, financial issues, plus the input from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) will be discussed in an open online session from 7 p.m. today, with the participation of a renowned expert panel consisting Arjun Fernando, Lalith Withana, Pradeep Goonasekere, and Chandana Liyanage.
R.B. Wickramasinghe[/caption]
The decision whether to give green light for coaching and day-to-day playing in tennis will be announced in the first week of June, said Sports Ministry Assi. Director R. B. Wickramasinghe on Friday (22).
"We are still observing the developments of the situation in the country with regard to the pandemic. We are not going to take any risk whatsoever. We hoping to review situation and take a decision in June first week," he told 'The Morning Sports'.
"The special concern, regarding tennis, is that it involves equipment like balls which can be contaminated. The Coaches can start their coaching even now but strictly without using any equipment. They may use these two weeks to get their players to get into the rhythm for future practices with balls and rackets," he clarified.
"Everyone is affected due to this situation but we're not supposed to take any risk because of our social responsibilties," added Wickramasinghe.
SL tennis was one of the liveliest sports amid the pandemic
Reigning SL men's national champion Sharmal DissanayakeDuring the last few weeks, as the entire country was under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) has been conducting many online presentations, with the assistance of the local and foreign experts, to educate coaches and players in the country.
"It's not about having the right opportunity. It's about using the opportunity right," said Head of Tennis Development at the SLTA, Chris Barathi Pillai, last week.
"That was how we looked at our tennis during the lockdown. It was a matter of being positive."
Usefully and constructively -
Since mid March, after the coronavirus wrecked havoc causing all tennis activities to a complete and unprecedented standstill (the worst after World War II) like all other things, the SLTA officials, headed by its President Iqbal Bin Issack and General Secretary Pradeep Goonasekere, were finding new ways to keep the game alive.
One thing was to keep the interest among the tennis fraternity hot and live, in the most uncertain of times, and the other was to have them got prepared themselves in the best possible way for the challenges that would be awaiting them in the post pandemic world of sports.
Previous online session -
The session conducted online in the initial weeks of the lockdown was participated by the most prominent tennis player of the country at present, Harshana Godamanna, now living in USA, who discussed about the reasons for his success as a player and why he could not reach top 300 in the world during his heydays, before 2010. He earned a career-high 811 in October 2008.
The others to joined the chat were Riaan Kruger, Team Lead for Coaching at the Development Department of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Suresh Menon, former ITF Development Officer for Asia and a Davis Cup Coach of Malaysia, Johann Peiris, renowned Everest summit climber of Sri Lanka, and Chrishantha Perera, an ITF Level-2 Coach and Director of the 'Hit Tenniz Academy' in Colombo.
The National Olympic Committee (NOC) was supporting the online programmes initiated by the SLTA.
SLTA - creating a new benchmark
[caption id="attachment_85340" align="alignleft" width="444"] Chris Barathi Pillai, Head of Tennis Development at the SLTA[/caption]
The SLTA, being one of probably the second-category sports bodies in SL --coming after more prominent local governing associations of sports such as cricket, rugby, athletics, and football--, was on full flow, so to say, during the past eight weeks when most of the national sports, out of over 60 of them, were more or less 'idling at home'.
Some of their work during troubled times included:
* Conducting online presentations
* SLTA coaches teaching lessons on the internet
* Holding online discussions
* Conducting many Webinars or web-based seminars joining experts from various areas in tennis, and from SL and abroad
Latest SLTA webinar / Q&A today
Issues pertaining to SLTA governing matters, team selection criteria, financial issues, plus the input from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) will be discussed in an open online session from 7 p.m. today, with the participation of a renowned expert panel consisting Arjun Fernando, Lalith Withana, Pradeep Goonasekere, and Chandana Liyanage.