In a surprise change of events, the 100th national tennis championship organized by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association is expected to see the inclusion of players from the sub-continental nations India, Pakistan & Bangladesh. This will be the second successive instance where foreign players will be allowed to take part in a tennis tournament at a national level.
The move to allow foreign nationals participate in a national level open tennis championship came last year and it was evident that the local talent was no match for the overseas players. The local boys were outsmarted by Pakistan’s most experienced Heera Ashiq who took home the men’s open title turning a new page in the sport. This year’s move is an obvious call from the organizing committee as the defending champion itself hails from neighboring Pakistan and will be looking forward to defend his men’s open title.
Overseas players have taken much of the credit that was reserved for the countrymen this calendar year winning two of the premier open ranking tournaments defeating the top seeds in the country. The 100th Colombo Championships which is one of Sri Lanka’s premiere ‘A’ grade ranking tournament that was concluded a month back did not see any of the Sri Lankan nationals making it in to the Men’s open finals. It was India’s Ashwin Vijaragavan & Heera Ashiq of Pakistan who clashed in the decisive finals and later Vijaragavan emerged as the victor. One of Sri Lanka’s finest; Dineshkanthan Thangarajah faced defeat to Vijaragavan while the Pakistan national defeated Nishangan Nadarajah to get to the finals. The recently concluded Negombo open championships once again saw the overseas domination as #3 seed Sanka Atukorale had to face defeat to Heera Ashiq.
The real question is whether the inclusion of such overseas talent will wither or prosper the racket game in the country. There are always two sides to any story. When we inquired from the Sri Lanka Tennis Association media division on the eligibility of foreign nationals to partake in a national competition, it was clarified that any person could enlist himself or herself for the open title event. This is not the case in any other national championship but according to the rules laid out by the tournament organizers, the inclusion of overseas nationals in the open draw is indeed a possibility.
The move has enabled Sri Lanka to have players with international exposure to play alongside the local players increasing the competitiveness of the tournament. With the competitiveness of the tournament expected to increase, a higher level of tennis can be witnessed during the open title games which will start on the 14th of August. At the outset, this initiative is tipped to increase the overall standard of the sport in the country and the Sri Lanka Tennis Association’s intention is development of the sport through such methods. With a total of over 900 player participations, the foreigners will not have it easy this time around since players from all around the country will be participating in the tournament.
On the other hand it could be argued that a national championship is intended in finding the country’s best and overseas players taking the top honors can dampen spirits and demoralize local players. This could turn to be a key factor for the stagnation of the national talent but the bigger picture is that the inclusion of these players will aid the local talent to build up their skills in the longer run.
Title holder Heera Ashiq and his brother Thanveer Ashiq will be the highlight of the overseas contingent and recently crowned Colombo Championships winner Indian national Ashwin Vijaragavan is also tipped to have enlisted for the Men’s open. With a few more Indian & Bangladesh nationals to confirm their participation, the National title run will definitely be a tournament filled with a high level of competition.
