The Court of Appeal upholds the decision taken by tennis selectors
View(s):The Court of Appeal dismissed a case filed by Asanga Seneviratne –the father of tennis player Alana–challenging the “flawed” selection process which denied his daughter Alana a place in the Junior Fed Cup team.
This means, the team comprising Anjalika Kurera , Nehera Weerawansa and Onelli Perera was given the green light to participate in the forthcoming tournament in Bangkok, Thailand from 15 -22 April 2019.
Alana, the younger sister of Anika, a leading tennis player in the island, did not compete at the selection trials held on February 19 due to her busy sports schedule. According to the father, she was in the midst of a A grade Clay Court tournament at the SSC and also training with the national U-21 netball team.
Accordingly they had asked for a change of date of the trial which the selectors refused. In the meantime, Seneviratne, a sportsman himself, had made an official complaint to the Minister of Sports challenging the selection process whereby, following an inquiry, the Ministry advised the selectors to exclude Nehara Weerawansa from the squad despite playing the trials and winning them.
The argument, however, was that Nehara who is pursuing her tennis career in Barcelona in Spain, had not played competitively for two years in Sri Lanka and did not have the national or international rankings to boast of. A promising player, she was out of action in 2018 due to a wrist injury which had required surgery.
This prompted Nehara’s parents to take the matter to Court and, with the Sports Minister reversing his decision following legal advice, the case was terminated.