Hotel Topaz emerge Travel Trade badminton champs

From left: Rohan De Silva, Anura Basnayake, Achini Rathnasiri, Rasika Rathnayake, Udara Nayanajith, Kalum Katipearachchi and A.D.W. Yatawara 

Hotel Topaz, Kandy made vast strides in badminton when they pieced together a hugely successful comeback at the Travel Trade Sports Club (TTSC) Badminton Team Championships. 

Hotel Topaz, a company within the McLarens Group, has dominated the mercantile badminton scene over the past few years and lifted the Men’s Open and the Women’s category trophies at the 20th TTSC Badminton Team Championships, held at the S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia Indoor Courts recently.

Their team’s key members were Udara Nayanajith and Achini Rathnasiri, who were crowned the best male and female players respectively.

Hotel Topaz beat defending champions SriLankan Airlines in the semi-final to book a final’s berth against Citrus Waskaduwa in the Men’s Open division in which they beat the latter 3-0. Nayanajith (Topaz) beat Prashan de Silva (Citrus) 21/10, 21/09; Rohan de Silva (Topaz) beat Nuwan Silva (Citrus) 19/21, 21/14, 21/17 and A.D.W. Yatawara (Topaz) beat Rajith Thilaka (Citrus) 21/17, 21/10 to seal victory for Hotel Topaz.

In the Women’s segment finals, Hotel Topaz enjoyed further success with a 2-1 win over Serendib Leisure. In the finals, Achini Ratnasiri (Topaz) beat Mithilani Mendis (Serendib) 21/03, 21/03; Chithra Fernando (Serendib) beat Rasika Ratnayake (Topaz) 21/12, 21/13 while Achini Ratnasiri and Rasika Ratnayake (Topaz) beat Chithra Fernando and Mithilani Mendis (Serendib) 21/01, 21/06 in the women’s doubles event. This is the second time Hotel Topaz has won this championship in the TTSC’s 20-year history. The victorious Hotel Topaz team was led by Rohan De Silva and also included Anura Basnayake, Achini Rathnasiri, Rasika Rathnayake, Udara Nayanajith, Kalum Katipearachchi and A.D.W Yatawara.