Medal-hungry Lankan shuttlers advance to quarterfinals

Men's Skipper Dinuka Karunaratne is in prime form

Women's Skipper Achini Ratnasiri won both her games

By Naushad Amit in Nepal

After their stirring performances to win two silver medals in the team events, Sri Lanka’s shuttlers commenced their individual events by winning 11 out of 13 pre-quarterfinal games in the badminton competition of the 13th South Asian Games played out at the Covered Hall in Pokhara, Nepal yesterday. 

Men’s Skipper Dinuka Karunaratne continued his form to remain unbeaten as a singles player, while women’s captain Achini Ratnasiri also continued her dominance as a medal-winning prospect for the Lankan badminton team. 

Karunaratne beat Bangladesh’s Salman Khan earlier on and went on to defeat Nepal’s Nidup Durji by identical scores in the Men’s Singles Pre-quarterfinals. Dilmi Dias won both her games in the Women’s Single Pre-quarterfinals alongside Skipper Ratnasiri’s feat against Nepal’s Rashila Maharjan. 

The combination of Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Goonathilake has always been successful for Sri Lanka in the Men’s Doubles and the duo continued their perfect run, defeating Bangladesh’s Hamid Luckman and Gourab Singha, and then India’s Arun George and Sanyam Shukla 2-0 in both games. 

However, in their first match, their gritty Bangladeshi opponents fought hard before surrendering the encounter to the Lankan duo 21-15 and 21-18. The second game against India was a battle far beyond what they encountered with the Bangladeshis. 

The first set for Dias and Goonathilake was a sitter, but George and Shukla nearly took the match to a third set before narrowly losing out to the Lankans.

In the Women’s Doubles games, Sri Lanka’s two teams of Ratnasiri and Upuli Samanthika and Thilini Hendehewa and Kavidi Sirimannage won their matches comprehensively. Sirimannage paired up with Ranthushka Sasindu to record a win against Bangladesh in the Mixed Doubles.

The only setbacks Sri Lanka suffered were the two losses that came in a Men’s Singles match featuring Sasindu and the Sri Lanka Men’s Doubles team of skipper Karunaratne and Hasitha Chanaka losing to the Bangladeshi duo in a match that went right down to the wire. 

The badminton competition will continue with its quarterfinals and semi-finals, while five finals are scheduled to take place on Saturday at the Covered Hall in Pokhara.   

Results:

Men’s Singles 

Pre-quarterfinals:

Dinuka Karunaratne (SL) beat Salman Khan (Ban) 2-0 (21-10, 21-7)

Dinuka Karunaratne (SL beat Nidup Durji (Nep) 2-0 (21-9, 21-7)

Ranthushka Sasindu (SL) lost to Aryaman Tandou (Ind) 0-2 (17-21, 17-21)

Women’s Singles 

Pre-quarterfinals:

Achini Ratnasiri (SL) beat Rashila Maharjan (Nep) 2-0 (21-15, 21-19)

Dilmi Dias beat (SL) beat Nabiha Abdul Razzaq (Mal) 2-0 (21-6, 21-19)

Dilmi Dias (SL) beat Alina Sultana (Ban) 2-0 (21-8, 21-10)

Anurangi Masakorale (SL) beat Shalpa Akter (Ban) 2-0 (21-8, 21-10)

Men’s Doubles 

Pre-quarterfinals:

Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Goonathilake (SL) beat Hamid Luckman and Gourab Singha (Ban) 2-0 (21-15, 21-18)

Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Goonathilake (SL) beat Arun George and Sanyam Shukla (Ind) 2-0 (21-10, 23-21)

Dinuka Karunaratne and Hasitha Chanaka (SL) lost to Mohamed Atique and Raja Mohammad (Ban) 1-2 (14-21, 21-13, 19-21)

Women’s Doubles 

Pre-quarterfinals:

Achini Ratnasiri and Upuli Samanthika (SL) beat Palwasha Bashir and Mahoor Shehzad (Pak) 2-0 (21-10, 21-9)

Thilini Hendehewa and Kavidi Sirimannage (SL) beat Jessica Gurung and Rashila Maharjan (Nep) 2-0 (21-8, 21-7)

Mixed Doubles 

Pre-quarterfinals:

Ranthushka Sasindu and Kavidi Sirimannage (SL) beat Shuvo Khandaker and Bristi Khitua (Ban) 2-0 (21-11, 21-13)