Lekha Shehani:

Working hard

Anuradha Abeysekara

Sri Lanka’s Badminton received good omens as young school shuttlers with international exposure took the lead. Recently concluded Sri Lanka Schools’ Badminton Colours Ceremony featured H D Lekha Shehani as the most outstanding performer for the year 2010.

Lekha Shehani of Our Lady of Victories Convent, Moratuwa stepped in to the badminton court when she was eight-years old in 2001.

The potential she displayed in the early stage was recognized by her first coach Nimali Fernando who encouraged Lekha and guided her to become the outstanding shuttler she is.

Lekha has maintained a flawless record in Junior National Badminton by winning the Under-13 Championship in 2004 and 2005, Under-15 C’ ship in 2006, Under-17 title in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

She become the main focus among the shuttlers in 2009 when Lekha was crowned a triple champion for winning the Under-19 singles, doubles and mixed doubles at the Junior Nationals. She continued with the same style at the SSC open Championships and made a clean sweep to clinch the Under-19 singles and doubles titles.

Lekha is not just a champion shuttler but also has represented her school in Athletics. She has been a great inspiration for the youngsters as the Games Captain of the school.

She made sporting headlines after her shocking win over Olympian Thilini Jayasinghe. The year 2010 had been a mile stone for Lekha filled with National and International exposure.

She become the runner-up in the singles and doubles events in the Central Province Badminton Championships while claiming the doubles title and mix doubles runner-up position in the North Central Province Open championships in 2010. She has improved her skills during the intensive training she received after being selected for the South Asian Games squad. She won the 36th National Sports Festival team event gold medal and singles runner-up in 2010.

She was a quarter finalist at the Maldives International Badminton Challenge in singles and doubles categories. Lekha participated in the Under-19 Asian Junior Cup Championship in Malaysia and Thomas and Uber Cup in Thailand. She has also represented Sri Lanka in the Youth Olympics 2010.

The promising young badminton star is hoping to work hard and bring honour to the country in the future.