Ariyadasa Silva shuttle tourney from March 24 to 27

Yasaratne GAMAGE

The Ariyadasa Silva Open Badminton Championship gets underway after a lapse of two years at Dharmasoka College, Badminton Sports Complex and New Town Hall Badminton Stadium, Ambalangoda from March 24 to 27.

This was revealed at a press briefing held at Sri Lanka Badminton Association Headquarters, Colombo yesterday presided over by SLBA President Roshan Gunawardena.

This year the tournament is sponsored by Cupid Exports (Pvt) Ltd who have come forward to develop badminton in the island.

Speaking on the occasion SLBA President Roshan Gunawardena said that the tourney was held in honour of Legendary Ariyadasa Silva of Ambalangoda who was known as the Father of Outstation Badminton in Sri Lanka. Ariyadasa Silva, who was the Badminton Coach of Richmond College, Galle first pioneered the formation of Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Association which opened the doors for the rural students to engage in the sport.

The tournament is organized by Sri Lanka Badminton Association in collaboration with Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda and Southern Province Badminton Association.

Open events, senior events and junior events are the three major event categories this year.

Junior under 15 boys and girls matches will be held on March 24 while under 17 boys/girls and open matches are scheduled for March 25.

The semi-finals of open events and finals of all events will be played on March 27 followed by the awards ceremony.

This is the first national ranking tournament held in Ambalangoda where six national players (Dinuka Karunaratne, Niluka Karunaratne, Lasitha Menaka, Chandrika de Silva, Achini Ratnasiri and Thilini Jayasinghe) together with a host of other players will be in action.

There will be 135 shuttlers vying for supremacy and some tough battles will be expected among the national rankers.