NSBA Open Badminton Tournament to kick off today

Sri Lanka Telecom Corporative Relations General Manager Rohan Ellawala (second left) presenting the sponsorship cheque to Nationalised Servicers Badminton Association Secretary Upul Gamlath during a press conference in Colombo on 10 October. Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) President Rohan de Silva, SLB Vice Presidents Parakrama Basnayake and Roshan Fernando, and referee Sanjeewa Wijesekara and NSB Assistant Marketing Manager Hasitha Senanayake are also present

The Nationalised Services Badminton Association (NSBA) Open Badminton Tournament will be held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo, starting today.

The annual level 1 ranking tournament, sanctioned by Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB), will offer a total of Rs. 500,000 in prize money.

More than 1,200 shuttlers will be in action during the five-day tournament, which will be one of the largest events of the year, sectioned by SLB.

“NSBA is a very important association within the SLB. They are one of our affiliates and they conduct very important badminton tournaments during the year. This being the open event, they have taken every step along with our SLB tournament committee to hold this tournament on a grand scale and in a very high level,” Sri Lanka Badminton President Rohan de Silva said during a press conference held at the 80 Club in Colombo on 10 October. 

“This kind of tournament plays a major role in improving the standards of the players and the overall development of the game,” De Silva said.

“We consider the players as the most important component of this game. Players are the kings, and that’s why we are providing them with so much training, and so many facilities to improve their standards.

“Over the past three months after coming into power, we improved the badminton complex that we have at the SLB headquarters at Maitland Place. The lighting was redone and the entire floor was redone to meet international standards. The players’ accommodations and other facilities were also upgraded at a cost of about Rs. 15 million. As a result of that, we have an international standard badminton complex now. We have a foreign coach and we are getting two more coaches from Indonesia to assist him from next week to train our players. Within these three months, we have sent them to three international tournaments to participate in, and they have gained a lot of experience and also have done very well in those tournaments,” the SLB President said.

“We had several local tournaments within this period. North Central Open, Mercantile Tournament, and SSC Open Tournament are some of the major events which were conducted by the SLB. The NSBA Open Tournament, with more than 1,200 players taking part, is also one of the biggest badminton events in the country,” De Silva said. Sri Lanka Badminton Vice President Parakrama Basnayake said that the tournament will be conducted according to international standards and matches will be simultaneously played on 10 courts at the same venue.

“Events will be conducted under two main categories; namely, Open and Schools. Matches in the Open category will be held under Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, Over-35 Men’s Singles, Over-40 Men’s and Women’s Veterans Singles/Doubles, Over-50 Masters Singles/Doubles, and Over-60 Masters Singles/Doubles,” Basnayake said

Under the Schools category, singles and doubles matches will be conducted for boys and girls under 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19.

The qualification rounds will start the proceedings of the tournament on the first day, followed by the matches in the main draw. Competition in the main draw will be held until 16 October. On 17 October, the quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place. All finals will be held on the last day of the event. 

Sanjeewa Wijesekara will be the chief referee of the tournament, and Samantha Nawaratne will be his deputy. The tournament is sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom.