Sri Lanka off to winning start at Billie Jean King Cup Junior and Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Pre Qualifying tournaments

Sri Lanka’s girls’ and boys’ teams won their first encounters on day one of the Billie Jean King Cup Junior and Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Pre Qualifying tournaments at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts in Colombo on Monday.

The boys team beat Mongolia 3-0 as Ganuka Fernando and Lithum Jayabandu in the singles and Fernando and Aahil Kaleel in the doubles registered straight set victories. While Fernando beat Mandakh Davaadash 6-0, 6-1 in the first singles, Jayabandu scored a 6-3, 6-2 win against Zolbadar Urnukh.

Fernando joined Aahil Kaleel to beat Mandakh Davaadash and Zolbadar Urnukh 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles. The boys team will face Iraq on Wednesday.

Ganuka Fernando

The girls team beat Qatar 3-0 as Ivanka Samarasinghe (beat Safiya al. Thani 6-1, 6-1) and Dinara de Silva (beat Hind Al Mudahka 6-2, 6-0) triumphed in their singles encounters before Dinara teamed up with Arushi Thomas to overcome Afiya al Thani and Khadija Gassama 6-2, 6-1 in the doubles. Girls team will next face Maldives.

The other participating girls’ teams are Bhutan, Brunei, Iran, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, and Turkmenistan.

In the Junior Davis Cup, 24 boys teams are competing. They are Bahrain, Cambodia, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Pacific Oceania, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Yemen.