[caption id="attachment_113254" align="alignleft" width="299"]
Neyara Weerawansa[/caption]
As the year’s most significant domestic tennis tournament, the Sri Lanka Tennis Nationals 2020, which was postponed from last year due to the pandemic, continued on its second day on Sunday (10) at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association SLTA) hard courts in Colombo, there was an alleged attempt by one of its participants to take an injunction order from courts to hold up the event.
A player who took part in the men’s open category has been suspended by the Tournament Referee on disciplinary grounds on Saturday (9) and the particular player has threatened legal action against the tournament organisers for ‘injustice’ happened to him during a men's open singles match the same day.
The player has alleged that he was denied to play his first-round match on a proper court and he was forced to play on a tar court, instead of a proper hard court, that has been ‘unsuitable’ to play on.
"I was forced to play under protest," the player told the Morning Sports on Saturday (9). "When I protested, I was suspended from the tournament unlawfully," he added.
But the referee is of the view that the player concerned agreed to change the court owing to wet conditions that prevailed on Saturday, yet he started to make complaints in the first set only when he was going to lose the match. The game was halted midway of its first set due to the situation.
The player used abusive language during the match and therefore he was suspended from the tournament giving away the victory to the opponent, a source attached to the SLTA told The Morning Sports on Sunday.
“The player was suspended from the tournament. The case is now before the disciplinary committee (of the SLTA) which will sit down soon and take the final decision on the issue,” a representative of the current SLTA committee said.
This year’s Tennis Nationals will go on till 24 January under the Health Ministry guidelines on conducting sporting competitions during the spread of Covid-19.
[caption id="attachment_113255" align="alignleft" width="377"]
Prasanna Athauda[/caption]
RESULTS
Men’s Open:
Prasanna Athauda beat Nadun Senadeera 6/0, 6/1
Vichintaya Nilaweera beat Ramith Herath 6/0, 6/3
Dilvan Herath beat Heshika Perera 7/5, 6/1
Kavisha Ratnayake beat Manesh Kajan 6/4, 1/6, 10/6
Women’s Open:
Neyara Weerawansa beat Dewmini Weerawansa 6/1, 6/0
Photo Ishan Wanniarachchi
Neyara Weerawansa[/caption]
As the year’s most significant domestic tennis tournament, the Sri Lanka Tennis Nationals 2020, which was postponed from last year due to the pandemic, continued on its second day on Sunday (10) at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association SLTA) hard courts in Colombo, there was an alleged attempt by one of its participants to take an injunction order from courts to hold up the event.
A player who took part in the men’s open category has been suspended by the Tournament Referee on disciplinary grounds on Saturday (9) and the particular player has threatened legal action against the tournament organisers for ‘injustice’ happened to him during a men's open singles match the same day.
The player has alleged that he was denied to play his first-round match on a proper court and he was forced to play on a tar court, instead of a proper hard court, that has been ‘unsuitable’ to play on.
"I was forced to play under protest," the player told the Morning Sports on Saturday (9). "When I protested, I was suspended from the tournament unlawfully," he added.
But the referee is of the view that the player concerned agreed to change the court owing to wet conditions that prevailed on Saturday, yet he started to make complaints in the first set only when he was going to lose the match. The game was halted midway of its first set due to the situation.
The player used abusive language during the match and therefore he was suspended from the tournament giving away the victory to the opponent, a source attached to the SLTA told The Morning Sports on Sunday.
“The player was suspended from the tournament. The case is now before the disciplinary committee (of the SLTA) which will sit down soon and take the final decision on the issue,” a representative of the current SLTA committee said.
This year’s Tennis Nationals will go on till 24 January under the Health Ministry guidelines on conducting sporting competitions during the spread of Covid-19.
[caption id="attachment_113255" align="alignleft" width="377"] Prasanna Athauda[/caption]
RESULTS
Men’s Open:
Prasanna Athauda beat Nadun Senadeera 6/0, 6/1
Vichintaya Nilaweera beat Ramith Herath 6/0, 6/3
Dilvan Herath beat Heshika Perera 7/5, 6/1
Kavisha Ratnayake beat Manesh Kajan 6/4, 1/6, 10/6
Women’s Open:
Neyara Weerawansa beat Dewmini Weerawansa 6/1, 6/0
Photo Ishan Wanniarachchi