Achini ousts top seed Chandrika
Dilanka MANNAKKARA
Young sensation Achini Ratnasiri came up with an outstanding
performance to beat top seed Chandrika de Silva to be crowned the new
women's singles champion in the 58th annual Senior Badminton Nationals
Championship which concluded yesterday at the Royal College Sports
Complex. Achini managed to beat top shuttler Thilini Jayasinghe in the
semi finals mostly played a defensive game and was involved in several
rallies. Her placements were superb and she displayed a wide array of
strokes including some wonderful drop shots and fake smashes which were
played to perfection. The left handed Achini won the game 21/14, 21/14
in straight sets.
Meanwhile the undisputed king of Badminton Niluka Karunarathne was
once again on song as he bagged the men's singles title by beating his
younger brother Dinuka Karunarathne 21/14, 21/14. Niluka played some
unplayable drop shots to tire his opponent and used his favourite smash
shots to gain points. The pick of the games was the men's doubles final
as top seeds Diluka and Dinuka Karunarathne met rookies R.S Dahanayake
and Hasith Chanaka in a fast paced game.
Hasith and R.S Dahanayake combined together proved to be a lethal
force to reckon with as they were ruthless on the attack and their
defense was difficult to penetrate. They won the first set 21/18. In the
second set both teams were in fine rhythm and were involved in several
rallies to gain points. It was 20/20 and a simple error from Hasith
Chanaka helped Diluka and Dinuka to gain a valuable point to move the
score to 21/20 and have the match in their favour.
The pendulum swung both ways but R.S Dahanayake and Hasith got a
lucky break and a delightful smash shot sealed their victory. The final
scoreline read as 23/21 and a jubilant Hasith and R.S were crowned as
the new men's doubles champions. In the mixed doubles finals the
experienced duo of Niluka Karunarathne and Chandrika de Silva won the
game in straight sets 21/15, 21/11 against Dinuka Karunarathne and Lekha
Shehani.
Preethi Jayawardena the Managing Director of Chemanex PLC was the
chief guest for the prize giving.
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