Eighteen member badminton squad for South Asian Games

Anushka Withanage

An eighteen strong badminton squad will do duty for Sri Lanka at the 11th South Asian Games scheduled to take place from January 29 to February 8, 2010 in Bangladesh.

For subcontinent neighbors Bangladesh, this will be a shot in the arm for the country's sports being the third time that the Bangladeshi capital hosts the Games, thus becoming the 4th city to host the Games multiple times (after Colombo, Kathmandu and Islamabad).

The Lankan contingent, picked by the Badminton Association of Sri Lanka, was approved by the Sports Ministry.

The Men's team comprises of Niluka Karunaratne, Dinuka Karunaratne, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Diluka Karunaratne, R.S. Dahanayake, Hasith Chanaka and stand by Lasith Menaka and Nayanakantha Wijesekera.

The Women's team is made up of Achini Ratnasiri, Thilini Jayasinghe, Chandrika de Silva, Lekha Shehani, Upuli Samanthika Weerasinghe, Nadeesha Gayathri and stand by Gayani Perera and Subodha Dahanayake.

Eight countries are expected to participate in the mega event at the South Asian Games level this year. The participating countries includes Afghanistan , Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.