Sports Minister to witness finals of 71st National Badminton Championship on Sunday

The Open Finals of 71st National Badminton Championship organised by the Sri Lanka Badminton will be held tomorrow at Mercantile Badminton Indoor Stadium in the presence of new Sports Minister Harin Fernando, and the patronage of SLBA President Rohan De Silva.

The tournament is taking place at the Sri Lanka Badminton Courts, Mercantile Indoor Badminton Courts and D.S. Senanayake College Indoor courts, with over 1000 participants this year. The preliminary round matches ended yesterday and the semi-finals are scheduled to be held today.

Players ranging from Under-11 to Under-19 age groups competed in the junior competitions, while, players from Over-30 to Over-70 competed in senior competition. The open championship will have women’s and men’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles. 

The Under-19 singles Girls’ title was won by Ranithma Liyanage on Friday (8), while Sineth Manthuka won the Under-19 singles Boys’ title. The Under-19 Girls doubles title was won by Dasithma Jayathilaka and Sithuki Onadi. 

On the same day, Yoshan Harith won the Boys’ singles competition in the Under-17 age group, while Dilini Ambalangodage won the Girls’ singles competition in the same age group. 

Sanuda Ariyasinghe and Thisath Ranthuka won the Under-17 Boys’ doubles title while Dilini Ambalangoda and Sadithi Dewmini won the Girls’ doubles titles in the same age group.

In the Under-15 age group, Senuth Perera secured the Boys’ singles titles and together with Kenneth Aruggoda, Perera managed to secure the Boys’ doubles title as well. 

Thamindu Fernando managed to win the Boys’ singles title in the Under-13 age group while Sasandhi Guruge won the Girls’ singles competition at the same age group. Thamindu Fernando together with Senuda Nethila won the Boys’ doubles title as well. The Under-13 Girls’ doubles title was won by Sasandhi Guruge and Manuli Waravitage. 

In the Under-11 age group, the Boys’ title was won by Hansaka Rashiminda while Vithsadi Kaushalya won the Girls’ title in the age group. Risindi Akithya and Fatima Ishma managed to win the Under-11 Girls’ doubles title.