Over 150 shuttlers for Badminton Nationals
Sanjaya Ariyaratne
Over 150 shuttlers will take part in the 55th Senior National
Badminton Championships which gets underway today at the Royal College
Sports Complex, Reid Avenue, Colombo 07 and will be continued till
December 10.
This three day event is being conducted by the Sri Lanka Badminton
Association (SLBA). The Sri Lanka Telecom and Bank of Ceylon (BOC) have
come forward to sponsor this event. Massive Cash awards to the value of
Rs. 350,000 are on offer for the winners.
The championship will feature altogether eleven events comprising
five major events namely men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles,
women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Despite above categories there will be events for veteran players
namely over 35 singles and doubles, over 40 singles and doubles and over
50 singles and doubles. Niluka Karunaratne is the top seed shuttler in
the men's singles who has clinched the title for six consecutive times
while his brother Diluka is the bottom seed.
This year women's top seed Chandrika de Silva will face a tough
contest from bottom seed Thilini Jayasinghe. The former has been crowned
as champion for seven times in this event.
Brothers Diluka and Dinuka Karunaratne are the best players in men's
doubles while Anusha Lakshan and Hasith Chanaka are the bottom seeds. In
the women's section Chandrika de Silva and Thilini Jayasinghe are the
top seeds while Nadeesha Gayathri and Rasangi Kalpana are the bottom
seeds. In the mixed doubles event Dinuka Karunaratne and Chandrika de
Silva are the top players followed by R.S. Dahanayake and Achini
Ratnasiri.
A high standard of Badminton can be witnessed at Royal College as the
top badminton players in the island are taking part in this events. This
year's tournament will include several up and coming young players and
are expected to offer a stiff competition.
B.A.C. Fernando General Manager, Bank of Ceylon will be the chief
guest at the closing ceremony which will take place on December 10 at
the same venue. |
