Thailand win despite Sri Lanka’s doubles win

By M. Shamil Amit

Thailand won the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II Davis Cup despite Sri Lanka winning the doubles event as they cruised through by winning the two singles encounter which was played at SLTA tennis courts in Greenpath, Colombo on Sunday.

The two sides came into the game yesterday having shared a win each and also with host Sri Lanka looking forward to break the seven previous they underwent in the Davis Cup ties since the two teams began contesting each other from 1989.

In the three matches that were scheduled to played yesterday to decide the final outcome saw Sri Lanka keeping their hopes alive with doubles pair Sharmal Dissanayake and Yasitha de Silva winning their encounter.

But their hopes were dashed as they lost the two singles encounter with the Thai pair Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul and Jirat Navasirisomboon coasting to comfortable wins against the host pair of Alex Fairbanks and Yasitha de Silva who underwent back to back defeats.

A win for Sri Lanka would have seen them advance to the semi finals of the Group II but now they will vie for the seventh and eighth place in a contest against Indonesia due to be played in home soil in the first week of April.

Yesterday’s Results:

Singles: Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Thailand) beat Alex Fairbanks (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (7/5, 6/0). Jirat Navasirisomboon (Thailand) beat Yasitha de Silva (Sri Lanka) 2-0 (7/5, 6/2).

Doubles: Sharmal Dissanayake/Yasitha de Silva (Sri Lanka) beat Palaphoom Kovapitukted/Sanchai Ratiwatana (Thailand) 2-0 (6/3, 6/4).