Lebanon consolidate to impress

Godamanne in powerful display:

Richard Dwight

DAVIS CUP: Tennis players of this region who love to play with the sun on their backs, must have not been stirred enough by the sun keeping away but this was off-set by a gentle breeze that kept blowing to keep things cool yesterday, for the matches on day two of the Asia/ Oceania Zone III of the Davis Cup' However with rains intervening play was abandoned at 3.15 p.m.

The scheduled matches in Group 'A' was Lebanon vs UAE, Saudi Arabia, vs Singapore - whilst in Group 'B' it was Sri Lanka against Malaysia with Vietnam pitted against Oman with Sri Lanka and Malaysia both having lost to Oman and Vietnam respectively on day one, interest entered around in the morning in their clash.

Renouk Wijemanne was up against Selvam Veerasingham, the tall broad shouldered Malaysian and conceded the first set tamely. He however fought hard in the second set point for point, and in the tie breaker Veerasingham clinched it to win, to put Malaysia 1 up.

In the second singles, Sri Lanka's star player, Harshana Godamanna, Ooozing with confidence, set a scorching pace against Malaysia's, Yew Ming Si to win the first set with effortless ease. Left hander, Godamanna, deceptive as he was, with superb court craft and excellent passing shots and powerful serves, won the second set as well to put Sri Lanka on par.

The doubles match between Sri Lanka's combination of Godamanna and Rajapakse against Malaysia's pair of Veerasingham and Yew Ming Si saw Sri Lanka leading 5/4 in the first set when play was called off due to rain. The winner of this tie will depend on who wins the doubles.

The team from Lebanon are without doubt a formidable squad and consolidated their position by overhauling Singapore 3-0 and yesterday did the same to overcome UAE 3-0 quickly to beat the rains. Lebanon was the only team to finish all 3 of their matches.

They have three outstanding players in Bassam Beidas, Patrick Chucri and Karim Alayli.

Results day 2

A Group

Lebanon beat 3-0 K. Alayali (LEB) bt: M.N.Al. Baloushi (UAE) 6/2, 6/2, B. Beidas (LEB) bt: O. Bahrouzyan (UAE) 7/5, 6/2.

B. Beidas, P. Chucri (LEB) bt: O. Bahrouzyan, M.N.Al Baloushi (UAE) 6/1, 6/1.

Saudi Arabia vs Singapore

F. Al Saad (SA) bt: M. Sylvester Wee (Sing) 7/5, 6/4, C.J. Leong (Sing) bt: S. Al Rajeh (SA) 1/6, 6/2, 6/4.

Doubles to be played

'B' Group Sri Lanka vs Malaysia

S. Veerasingham (Mal) bt: R. Wijemanne (SL) 6/2, 7/6 (4)

H. Godamanna (SL) bt: Yew Ming Si (MAL) 6/2, 6/4.

Doubles to be continued.

Vietnam vs Oman

M. Quan Do (Viet) bt: M. Al Nabhani (Om) 1/6, 6/2, 6/4, K. Al Nabhani (OM) bt: Q Huyngo (Viet) 3/6, 7/5, 6/3 doubles to be played.