Over 1,100 shuttlers on show at 71st National Badminton Championship

Sri Lanka Badminton President Rohan de Silva at the media briefing on the 71st Sri Lanka Badminton Nationals  

By Althaf Nawaz

Over 1,100 shuttlers will be in the fray for honours at the 71st National Badminton Championship organised by Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) from 4 to 10 December to be held in three venues in Colombo.

The major iconic tournament in the country has attracted an enormous number of entries in various categories – from open to under-11 up to 70. They will fight it out to share the two million cash rewards.

Due to the non-availability of a centralised location, matches will be conducted at three venues concurrently. SLB had to hire two more venues, the Mercantile and D.S.Senanayake Badminton Indoor courts, along with their courts located at Maitland Place respectively.

With the entries closed on 24 November, the organisers conducted the tournament draw yesterday. The event will also showcase the top seeded players, including national players who have successfully represented the country. The inauguration ceremony will be on 4 December when the tournament kicks off with the preliminary round matches. The next three days of the competition will also have intense preliminary rounds building up to the pinnacle on 8 December, where it will reach the round of 16 and the quarter-final stage. The quarter-final and semi-final matches are scheduled for 9 December while the finals of the tournament is fixed for 10 December at the Mercantile Association Indoor Stadium.

The cynosure of all eyes will be on the Open Men's and Women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles of this grand annual event.

"We are glad to conduct another Badminton National which has attracted over 1,100 players of various age categories. This would also enable the seeded players and those representing the national level to participate," said Sri Lanka Badminton Association President, Rohan de Silva, the live wire behind the game in the country, who has spent most of his life and time for the betterment of the game.

"Due to the non-availability of a permanent place with at least 20 courts, which is the minimum requirement to conduct a tournament of this nature, we were compelled to play the games at three venues. We just managed to get a place in Diyagama recently through the former Sports Minister and the project is estimated to cost around Rs. 200 million to make a 20 courts complex. We are in the process of carrying out the spade work and look forward to the support of the incumbent Sports Minister to make this longstanding dream a reality," he added.