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| Sunday, 1 February 2004 |
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National shuttle champ Chandrika wins Belgium Open women's singles by LAL GUNESEKERA Sri Lanka's reigning national badminton champion of several years, Chandrika de Silva, did her country proud when she won the women's singles title at the Belgium Open Championship, while the young doubles combination of Diluka Karunaratne, younger brother of the reigning national men's champion, Niluka and D. D. Ramasinghe, won the men's doubles title. Christo Gonawala, who is a Vice-President of the Sri Lanka Badminton Association (SLBA), told the Sunday Observer that the SLBA were very proud of the achievements of these three shuttlers. He said: "This was the first time that our association sent players to play in the European Circuit, and though the Belgium Open was not a very reputed international event of the International Badminton Federation (IBF), we are proud of these players and we will continue to expose our best players in European Circuit. Chandrika won the singles title at the Bangladesh Satellite too earlier. Earlier, Niluka Karunaratne, became the first Sri Lankan to reach a final in a top IBF Grand Prix Circuit event when he lost in the final of the men's singles at the Welsh International Championship in December last year (2003). Here, young Karunaratne, beat some top players from Scotland, Wales, England and Denmark before he lost to a Welshman in the final. Karunaratne is now scheduled to play in the Thailand Open in Bangkok and is also to attend training in Malaysia before returning to the country for the preliminaries of the Thomas Cup also in Malaysia, followed by the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in Pakistan in February-March. He also attended the Prakash Padukone Academy in India too, last year. The others (besides Niluka Karunaratne) in the Sri Lanka side for the Thomas Cup are U. D. R. P. Kumara, N. John and Chameera, Kumarapperuma, while the SLBA are not sending a women's side to compete in the Uber Cup due to poor standards. Five players (three men and two women) left for Teheran, Iran last Thursday (January 29) to play in the Fajra International from February 1 to 5. The men's side comprises Thushara Edirisinghe. U. D. R. P. Kumara and N. John, while the two women's shuttlers are Pameesha Dishanthi and Thilini Jayasinghe. Four of them are being sponsored by the Iranian authorities. Diluka Karunaratne is also scheduled to play in the England in under-19 and under-17 tournaments, while the Sri Lanka 'pool' now in training for the SAF Games which comprises six men and four women, are also scheduled to compete in the Pakistan Satellite in November, Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) Championship at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November and the ABC Junior Championship in South Korea between April and November for which the dates have not yet been finalised. Meanwhile, the annual general meeting of the SLBA is scheduled to take place on February 27. |
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