Commonwealth Games Badminton: Sri Lanka advance to mixed team quarters

Monday, 1 August 2022 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Badminton President Rohan de Silva with the players and officials

Sri Lankan badminton team made it to the quarter-finals of the mixed team competition at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with two convincing wins over their Australian and Pakistani counterparts.

At Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, Sri Lanka outplayed the strong Australian team 3-2 before going down 0-5 to India. However, the Lankans made a brilliant comeback to book the second spot in Group A following a brilliant 4-1 win over Pakistan.

During the team event against Australia, mixed doubles pair of Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa defeated Ying Xiang Lin/Gronya Somerville 21-18, 21-14 while Sri Lanka’s most experienced player Niluka Karunaratne beat Nathan Tang 21-18, 21-12. Dias and Karunaratne sealed the victory with a doubles win over Pham Tran Hoang and Jack Yu (21-16, 21-14).

Later, against Pakistan, Dias and Hendahewa defeated their mixed doubles opponents Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Ghazala Siddique 21-9, 21-11 before Karunaratne clinched an easy 21-9, 21-11 win over Murad Ali in his men’s singles match.

Suhasni Vidanage lost to Mahoor Shahzad 20-22, 15-21 following a tough women’s singles tie, but Dias and Karunaratne secured the overall win after defeating Shahzad and Bhatti 21-15, 21-13. Hendahewa and Vidanage then extended the winning margin with a 21-15, 21-8 win over Murad Ali and Ghazala Siddique.

India topped the table after defeating all of their Group A opponents and securing three points while Sri Lanka were placed second, thereby advancing to the knockout stage.

Singapore, hosts England, Canada, Scotland Malaysia and South Africa also made it to the quarter-finals.

Sri Lanka is set to meet Malaysia in the mixed team quarters.

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