The Sri Lankan wheelchair tennis team which qualified to play in the semi final at the 2021 BNP Paribas World Team Cup Qualification event held in Portugal recently lost to Israel 1-2 and could not qualify for the World Cup.
But they finished in third place defeating Greece 2-0. Teams from 29 countries took part in this event.
The Sri Lankan team comprised Gamini Dissanayake, DSR Dharmasena and Suresh Ranaweera and recorded a 3-0 victory over Croatia to reach the semi final.
According to the latest world ranking Dharmasena is placed 62nd while Dissanayake is placed 82nd with Ranaweera 101.
At the semi final against Israel Dissanayake lost to Guy Sheshan 1-2 (6/4, 2/6, 6/4). However Ranaweera came back strongly to win against Adam Bandychewushky 2-0 ( 6/2, 6/3 ).
Ranaweera and Dharmasena lost their doubles game (0/6, 4/6) and paved the way for Israel 2-1 to qualify for the World Cup.
Israel and Poland from Group 1 and Austria and Chile from Group 2 qualified.
England, France, Japan, Argentina, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, USA, Korea and Brazil had direct qualification to the World Cup which is scheduled to be held in October.