SriLankan Airlines wins Travel Trade Sports Club Badminton Championships

SriLankan Airlines, which took a back seat for the past two years, came back strongly to bag both titles offered at the 22nd Travel Trade Sports Club Badminton Championships 2017, sponsored by Serendib Leisure Management Ltd. for the seventh successive year, which concluded at the S. Thomas’ College Indoor Sports Complex in Mount Lavinia on 17 September.

SriLankan regained the Open Team Championship, dethroning the Walkers Whittalls ‘A’ team, while retaining the Veterans Team Championship in a repeat of last year’s final, beating Walkers Whittalls. 

17 teams participated in the ‘Open’ category and eight teams participated in the Veterans segment (Men’s Over-40/Women’s Over-35).

Open Championship results at a glance from the quarterfinals onwards: Walkers Whittalls ‘A’ beat Serendib Leisure Hotels 3-0, Habarana Village beat Walkers/Whittalls ‘B’ 3-1, SriLankan Airlines beat Aitken Spence Hotel Management 3-1, Cinnamon Grand Colombo ‘B’ (2016 runners-up) beat Heritance Ahungalle 3-1; semifinals: Walkers/Whittalls ‘A’ beat Habarana Village 3-0 and SriLankan Airlines beat Cinnamon Grand Colombo ‘B’ 3-0.

Veterans Championship results at a glance from the quarterfinals onwards: SriLankan Airlines beat Butterfly Vacations 2-0, Cinnamon Grand Colombo beat Serendib Leisure Hotels 2-0, Cinnamon Lakeside beat Habarana Village 2-0, Walkers/Whittalls beat Emirates 2-1. Semifinals: SriLankan Airlines beat Cinnamon Grand Colombo 2-1, Walkers /Whittalls beat Cinnamon Lakeside 2-1.

Full results of the two finals.

Open Team Champoionship – SriLankan Airlines beat Walkers/Whittalls ‘A’ 3-0; Men’s Single: Dhasitha Dahanayake (Sri Lankan) beat Joel Ratnayake (Walkers/Whittalls) 21-8, 21-13; Men’s Doubles: Mahesh Jayasinghe and Nirosh Silva (Sri Lankan) beat Prabath Harshakumar and Joel Ratnayake. (Walkers/Whittalls) 21-9, 21-8. Women’s singles: Ruwani Lakshika (Sri Lankan) beat Kaveesha Narangoda 21-19, 14-21 and 21-19.

Most Outstanding Players - Nirosh Silva and Ruwani Lakshika (both from SriLankan).

Veterans Team Championship (Men Over-40/Women Over-35) – SriLankan Airlines beat Walkers/Whittalls, 2-0. Men’s Single - Sujith Wijetunga (SriLankan) beat Prabath Harshakumar 21-18, 19-21 and 21-12; Men’s doubles: Sujith Wijetunga and Anuraji de Silva W/O from Keerthi Ekanayake and Surain Gunatillake (Walkers/Whittall).

Most Outstanding Players: Sujith Wijetunga and Madhuka Liyanage (both from Sri Lankan).

Awards were presented by Chief Guest Hemas Holdings Leisure/Travel and Aviation Managing Director Malinga Arasakularatne, Hemas Holdings Leisure, Travel and Aviation Chief Marketing Officer and TTSC Vice President Suranjith de Fonseka and TTSC President Prabath Harshakumar.