Foreign Coach For HK Davis Cup Tie
By T.M.K. Samat
THE SLTA is to place the country’s Davis Cup destiny in the hands of a high-profile professional coach from India.
After losing by a whisker to New Zealand in the March 5-7 tie in Colombo, Sri Lanka face a must-win tie against Hong Kong, also in Colombo in July, to retain their place in Group Two of the Davis Cup competition. And in an apparent all-or-nothing bid, the SLTA last week decided to hire the services of Enrico Pepino, one-time coach of Indian Grand Slam Doubles winner Leander Paes as well as women’s star Sania Mirza.
Pepino is no stranger to Sri Lanka tennis. A close friend of Chairman Selectors, Suresh Subramaniam, from their playing days in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Pepino, of Italian descent, coached the 2004 Davis Cup team that won promotion from Group 4 to 3 in Jordan. He was also the coach the next year, 2005, in which Sri Lanka did well to finish fourth, out of eight, in their first appearance after some years in Group 3.
The new coach replaces Sri Lankan George Paldano, who must feel disappointed as his subjects were far from disgraced against the superiorly ranked Kiwis. “Replacing George was not an easy decision to take. Under him the team did well, and had we won, letting him go would’ve been unthinkable. We didn’t and so it’s a must-win situation we are in (to stay in Group 2) faced with,’’ said SLTA President, Maxwell de Silva.
“So, we thought we’d go for broke and hire the best affordable coach, one with wide experience and who’s managed international stars. Pepino fits that bill and given our past association with him, the choice was down to only him.’’
Pepino is scheduled to commence duties in Colombo in mid-April through to the Hong Kong tie in July. He will bring along a fitness trainer and a “hitter”, tennis’ equivalent of a boxing sparring partner, from his Calcutta and Bangalore based academies.
After training in Colombo, Pepino will travel with the team on tours to India, Indonesia and Malaysia between May 3 and June 30. They’ll play in ITF Futures tournaments in all three countries – two in India, three in Indonesia and two in Malaysia.
“The final tab (for the HK tie) is expected around Rs.4m. There’ll be some funding from the ITF but that won’t cover it all. Coca Cola signed up for the New Zealand tie and we’re hopeful they’ll come in again since the last tie aroused so much public interest,’’ said SLTA President, de Silva.
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