Billie Jean Cup – Asia Oceania Group 3 Winning start for Sri Lanka girls

Akesha Silva / Dinara de Silva

By M. Shamil Amit

The first day’s proceedings of the Billie Jean Cup – Asia Oceania Group 3 tournament saw Sri Lanka girls begin their campaign on a winning note with a 3-0 win against Qatar at the SLTA tennis courts in Greenpath, Colombo yesterday.

In the singles event, Akesha Silva and Dinara de Silva won their matches beating Hind Al Mudahka and Mubaraka Al Naimi while in the doubles event Akesha and Dinara partnered to pull off a 2-0 win against Mubaraka Al Naimi and Dana Khalifa. The Sri Lanka girls will face Nepal today.

The tournament is being contested by nine countries comprising Iraq, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and host Sri Lanka who are also battling it out for the promotion to Group 2.

Results:
Sri Lanka beat Qatar 3-0
Singles: Akesha Silva (Sri Lanka) beat Hind Al Mudahka (Qatar) 2-0 (6/3, 3/0 rtd), Dinara de Silva (Sri Lanka) beat Mubaraka Al Naimi (Qatar) 2-0 (6/3, 6/0)
Doubles: Dinara de Silva/Akesha Silva (Sri Lanka) beat Mubaraka Al Naimi/Dana Khalifa (Qatar) 2-0 (6/0, 7/5)