Eight hundred and fifty shuttlers for Mercantile Badminton C'ship

Sampath BANDARA

Eight hundred and fifty shuttlers, 146 teams from 48 firms' and banks are participating in the 26th Annual Mercantile Badminton Team Championship which commenced on Thursday at S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia Badminton court.

Olympics competitor Thilini Jayasinghe from Sampath Bank, Niluka Karunaratne and Diluka Karunarathne from Seylan Bank and Dinuka Karunaratna from Hatton National Bank are top seeds in the tournament. Eight shuttlers from the Sri Lanka Badminton pool will take part in this championship.

The finals will be held at the St. Thomas College on Sunday from 4 p.m. onwards.

37th Junior Championship

The 37th Junior National Badminton Championships will be held at four venues from today (5) to Sunday (7).

The venues are Royal College Sports Complex, Sri Lanka Badminton Association Indoor Stadium, SSC and St. Thomas College Mt. Lavinia.

For the first time in the history the junior national championship was played on a provincial basis. These matches took place in the north and east after a long time.

A record number of participants entered for the provincial matches are Western Province (1109), Central Province (291), Southern Province (171), Northern Province (117), Uva Province (73) and Sabaragamuwa Province (60) for a total at 2142 competitors.

Provincial winners runners up, third and fourth placed teams ware selected and awarded gold, silver and bronze medals and certificates.

The finals will be played at the Royal College Sports Complex on Sunday.

The chief guest for this occasion will be Minister of Sports and Public Recreation Gamini Lokuge. The guests of honour will be Sri Lanka Telecom chairperson Mrs. Leisha de Silva Chandrasena.

National Championship

Meanwhile the 56th National Badminton Championships conducted by the Sri Lanka Badminton Association will be held at the Royal College Sports Complex from 18th to 21st Sunday.

The events will comprise open men's singles and doubles, open women's singles and doubles, open mixed doubles, mens veterans singles and doubles (over 35), men's masters singles and doubles (over 50) and plate event.