Marking another significant milestone in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association will host the ITF World Junior Tennis Championship, Junior Davis Cup and the Junior Fed Cup pre-qualifying rounds in the coming weekend.
The ITF World Junior Tennis competition that is played for the ages 14 and below started off as an initiative by the ITF that is the international governing body for tennis in 1991 with the sole purpose being to uplift junior tennis worldwide. Today the top 16 boys’ and girls’ teams form the final regional draw after passing a qualifying stage where a total of over 100 countries participate.
Photo Album – Press Conference for Junior Davis cup, Fed Cup & World Juniors
The Junior Davis Cup & the Junior Fed Cup, that is the international team competition played for the ages 16 and below, was launched in 1985 by the ITF with the name “World Youth Cup” and was later re-branded under the partnership of BNP Paribas to Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. BNP Paribas are also the title sponsors for the Davis Cup main series worldwide.
Sri Lanka will be play proud hosts for the pre-qualifiers of the three events; this is significantly the first occasion where 48 teams have entered the pre-qualifying event in Asia. A total of 150 players and 60 coaches that represent 22 nations are currently in Colombo as the action is all set to begin on the 4th of March 2016.
Sri Lanka has been known in the Asian circuit to be a top-notch host and this time around the SLTA takes a positive step in handing over the organization process to a private institution. Hit Tennis Company; Sri Lanka’s first and leading private tennis academy will be organizing the three events on behalf of the association. The academy that started in 2012 consists of Sri Lanka’s top coaches in their director panel namely Mr. Chryshantha Perera, Mr. Chris Bharathiraj Pillai and Mr. T Bahirathan.
The matches will be played at two venues – Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts and Gymkhana Club Courts. Play will start on the 4th of March 2016 and conclude on the 9th.
Listed below are the countries that will be taking part in the two competitions from both male and female categories.
Boys: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Brumei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria and host nation Sri Lanka.
Girls: Singapore, Philippines, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Nepal, Turkmenistan and host nation Sri Lanka
