The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Tehran, in cooperation with the Tennis Federation of Iran, organized a Sri Lanka-Iran Sports Cooperation event at its Chancery premises in Tehran on February 10, 2022, in connection with the outgoing visit of Iran national junior tennis team to Sri Lanka for the selection matches of the World Junior Tennis Championships-2022, that is to be held in Colombo from February 13-26, 2022. More than 35 participants including notable tennis persons in Iran, key officials of the Tennis Federation, tennis sector stakeholders and junior tennis players were at the event. The objectives of the event were to further enhance existing sports cooperation between the two countries and provide background and other related information on Sri Lanka to the national junior tennis team of Iran.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Iran Vipulatheja Wishwanath Aponsu welcomed the participants and underlined that sports have been identified as a key area of cooperation between both Sri Lanka and Iran.
While highlighting the recent Iranian sports achievements including the place secured at the FIFA World Cup-2022 in Qatar, the Ambassador highlighted that the two countries have great potential for strengthening sports cooperation and other promising prospects. Further, he emphasized that exchanging knowledge, experiences, techniques and expertise in the sports sector especially in cricket, football, volleyball, wrestling and martial arts between the two countries is possible.
During the interactive session of the sports cooperation event, both the Embassy of Sri Lanka and the Iran Tennis Federation explored ways and means to expand cooperation in the tennis sector between the two countries. Several matters including present standards, requirements, challenges and opportunities, sharing training and capacity building programmes were discussed. In response to the proposal made by the Ambassador, the Iran Tennis Federation assured to send a proposal for joint cooperation between Sri Lanka and Iran Tennis Federations to achieve tennis sector development.
The President of Iran Tennis Federation Dr. Davood Azizi conveyed his sincere thanks and appreciation for organising a sports cooperation event in the Sri Lanka Embassy with the participation of national-level junior tennis players and other stakeholders. While extending his fullest support to expand Sri Lanka-Iran tennis sector cooperation, the Iran Tennis Federation President also thanked the Embassy for the assistance provided in facilitating visas for the visit of the Iranian junior tennis team in Sri Lanka.
A documentary on “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” was also screened during the event.
