The world cup of tennis, the Davis cup Asia/Oceania Group IV 2026 will be held in Sri Lanka from the 20^th to the 25^th of July 2026 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts. This tournament is held under the guidance of World Tennis, is the main team event for the male tennis players of the world.

There will be seven nations participating in the event to be held in Colombo. The teams being Iraq, Northern Mariana Islands, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyztan, Kuwait and the host country Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka team for the tournament comprises of Apna Perera, Thehan Wijemanna, Ganuka Fernando and Saha Kapilasena making up the team with a blend of youth and experience with Mineth Navarathna being the stand by player. The team is coached by the experienced Sankha Athukorala with Lakshan Wijerathna being the physio/ Masseur of the team. The manager of the  team is  Rukmal Cooray.

The seven teams will be divided into two groups. One group of three teams and the other one of four teams. Matches will be played in the round robin format in the initial stages and the top two teams from the two groups will compete in cross over matches. The  two winners will be promoted from this event. The third placed teams from the two groups will play a demotion play off match. The loser will be demoted. The team which finishes in the 4^th place in the group of four will automatically be demoted. As such two teams will be promoted and two teams will be demoted.

Official practice days are the 20^th and the 21^st of July and the matches will be held from the 22^nd to the 25^th of July.

The captain’s meeting and the draw for the tournament will be held at the SLTA on Tuesday the 21^st at 10.00 am, while the opening ceremony of the event is expected to be held on Wednesday  the 22^nd of July at 9 30 am on the Center court.

The balls for the event will be Wilson US Open, with Trident Distributors, the official partner for Wilson sporting goods in Sri Lanka coming on board as the official ball suppliers for the event. Apart from this, Trident Sports under the guidance of Yasser Farook, the managing director has come on board as the official apparel partner for the Sri Lanka team as well.

All teams will be staying at the Cinnamon Lakeside hotel with Cinnamon Lakeside hotel coming on board as the official hospitality partner for this tournament.  Dushyantha Tittawella, the General manger of the hotel is pulling out all the stops to make sure that the teams have a comfortable stay whilst they are in Sri Lanka.

Perera and Son bakers limited will be the official food and beverage partner for the tournament and will be in charge of making sure that the players’ needs are met throughout this event.

The tournament Director is  Dinith Pathiraja and has  S Thevanesan as his assistant.

Wan Xianling of China is the referee for the event and  Dharaka Ellawala being his deputy. There are six Chair umpires who have been appointed with two of them being Sri Lankans, namely Anjana De Silva and Chamod Rupassara. Jeyachandirun Saarangan is the Chief of Umpires and Adheesha Paranagama, Prageeth Polgampola, Pasindu Sampath and Yumira Kuruppu rounding up the tournament staff for the event with Mrs Nipuni Maheshika being the safeguarding officer and the UNO official for the tournament.

The SLTA president Iqbal Bin Issack with  General Secretary  Pradeep Goonasekera have been advising and looking into all the arrangements to make this tournament a success.

From left: Dinith Pathiraja (Tournament Director, Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group IV Event), Iqbal Bin Issack (President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Yasser Farook (Managing Director, Trident Distributors (Wilson Agents in Sri Lanka), Pradeep S. Goonasekera (General Secretary, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Rukmal Cooray (Vice President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA))

From left : Dinith Pathiraja (Tournament Director, Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group IV Event), Iqbal Bin Issack (President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Dushyantha Tittawella (General Manager, Cinnamon Lakeside), Pradeep S. Goonasekera (General Secretary, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA)), Rukmal Cooray (Vice President, Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA))

(PDES)

Rescuers are rushing to locate dozens of people missing in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, after a deadly landslide buried homes in the area, according to Chinese authorities.

The landslide took place around 9:10am (01:10 GMT) on Friday in Chongqing’s Pengshui county, killing eight people, leaving 34 unaccounted for and displacing more than 1,100, reported state media.

Footage shared by China’s CCTV broadcaster showed a huge buildup of rocks and dirt covering part of a residential and commercial street at the bottom of a mountain in the region.

Ten people have been rescued from the debris, including two who are seriously injured, reported China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

Water, electricity and gas supplies were cut off within a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) radius of the landslide to prevent further disruptions. More than 800 rescuers have gone to the site, reported CCTV.

Authorities said they sent more than 8,000 disaster relief items to Chongqing, including tents, folding beds and family emergency kits.

Pengshui county is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.

The area where the landslide happened is known for “unpredictable” steep terrain, a local official told a news conference, adding that dangerous rocks remain along the sides of the cliff.

The government has allocated 50 million yuan ($7.36m) in natural disaster relief funds to support the rescue and relief operations and to provide assistance to affected residents, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management said.

[Aljazeera]

Sir Garry Sobers the legendary West Indies  allrounder and one of the sport’s most towering icons, has died at his home in Barbados. He was 89 years old.

Widely regarded by many as the greatest allrounder and most gifted cricketer to have played the game, Sobers excelled as Test batter, could bowl left-arm pace as well as orthodox and wrist-spin, and he was an exceptional fielder and close-in catcher – attributes that once led his fellow all-timer, Sir Donald Bradman, to describe him as a “five-in-one cricketer”.

Sobers played 93 Test matches for West Indies between 1954 and 1974, scoring 8032 runs at an average of 57.78 and took 235 wickets at an average of 34.03. He also captained West Indies in 39 Tests between 1965 and 1972, winning nine and losing 10. The ICC’s premier annual award in men’s cricket – the Sir Garfield Sobers Award – is named in his honour and recognises the most outstanding overall performer in men’s international cricket across all formats.

Sobers made his first-class cricket debut at the age of 16, against the touring India team in January 1953, and excelled with four first-innings wickets to help his side enforce the follow-on. His Test debut followed a year later, against England in Jamaica, where he scored 14 and 26 from No.9 and took 4 for 75 in England’s first innings.

He played his initial Tests as a bowler, but at the age of 23 he scored his maiden Test hundred and also broke Len Hutton’s world record for the highest individual  Test score by making 365 against Pakistan at Sabina Park  in 1958. It was a record that stood until 1994, when it was broken by Brian Lara, an achievement Sobers was on hand to witness and celebrate.

A decade after that record-breaking innings, Sobers became the first cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket – off Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash – while playing for Nottinghamshire in Swansea. His first-class career comprised 383 matches for West Indies, Barbados, Nottinghamshire and South Australia and he amassed 28,314 runs at an average of 54.87 and took 1043 wickets at an average of 27.74.

While Sobers played 95 List A games, his international career had wound down by the advent of ODIs and he played only one international in that format – against England at Headingley in 1973. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1975, and in 2000, he was named as one of Five Cricketers of the Century by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, alongside Bradman, Sir Jack Hobbs, Sir Viv Richards and Shane Warne.

Born in Barbados in 1936, Sobers was the fifth of six children, and was raised primarily by his mother after his merchant-seaman father died during the Second World War in 1942. He was born with six fingers on each hand – the extra digits were removed in his childhood – and he excelled in all sports, including basketball, football and golf.

In a statement on behalf of Cricket West Indies, the board president, Dr. The Hon. Kishore Shallow, described Sobers as the “greatest cricketer the world has ever seen”, and offered his “heartfelt condolences to his family, the Government and people of Barbados and all those across the world who mourn his passing.

“There are moments in the story of a people when the life of one individual becomes woven into the hopes, dreams, and identity of generations,” Swallow added. “Today, the Caribbean mourns the passing of such an individual … His mastery of batting, bowling and fielding was unparalleled, but his true significance reached far beyond the boundary ropes.

“He emerged from the Caribbean at a time when our region was finding its voice and asserting its place on the world stage. Through his excellence, he gave millions across our islands and in the diaspora, a renewed belief in what was possible. He showed that greatness was not confined by the size of our nations, the geography of our islands or the circumstances of our beginnings.

“Sir Garfield Sobers became more than a sporting icon. He became a symbol of Caribbean excellence, resilience, and possibility. His achievements brought pride to Barbados, inspiration to the West Indies and admiration from every corner of the cricketing world.”

(Cricinfo)