Diluka - men’s champ, Thilini - women’s champ

By Lal Gunesekera

Diluka Karunaratne of Seylan Bank and Thilini Jayasinghe of Sampath Bank emerged champions of the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively at the Dulux Open Championships of the Mercantile Badminton Association (MBA) sponsored by CIC Paints (Pvt) Limited at the Royal College Sports Complex last week. Hatton National Bank (HNB) with 148 points won the overall title for the second consecutive year.

Diluka Karunaratne beat his brother Dinuka of Sampath Bank in a hectic three setter (19-21, 21-11, 21-17) to win the men’s singles title, while Thilini Jayasinghe beat veteran Chandrika de Silva of Seylan Bank (a former national champion) in straight sets (21-10, 21-8).

Dinuka who won a double, first won the men’s doubles title with Amila Kalugalage also of Sampath Bank beating Diluka and Chamera Kumarapperuma also of Seylan Bank in another three setter (21-19, 17-21, 21-17), while winning the mixed doubles with Thilini Jayasinghe over Niroshan Wijekoon of Asia Capital and Chandrika de Silva in yet another three set tussle for supremacy at 19-21, 21-12, 21-19.

Chandrika de Silva won the women’s doubles title with her partner Nimalika Karunasinghe also of Seylan Bank beating HNB’s Rasangi Ranatunga and Nadeesha Gayanthi in another interesting confrontation (21-19, 16-21, 21-14).

Anoj Tillekeratne of Jasons Sports won the men’s veterans singles beating AMW’s Hafiz Cader (21-14, 21-9), while Niroshan Wijekoon and Sanjeewa Wickremanayake of E-Wis won the men’s veteran’s doubles beating Hafiz Cader and Anoj Tillekeratne 21-12, 21-16.

A former national champion Sriyani Deepika of the Union Bank of Pakistan won a double in the women’s veteran’s events. She won the singles beating K. T. Inosha of SriLankan Airlines (21-10, 21-10), while winning the doubles with Inosha herself beating Vijitha Samarakoddy of Janashakthi and Minendra Samarakoon of Seylan Bank (21-4, 21-11).

A. L. W. Siriwardene of John Keells Holdings won a double in the Masters events. He won the singles beating M. M. N. de Silva also of John Keells Holdings (21-15, 21-16) and the doubles with Silva himself beating Gamini Jayasuriya (President of the MBA from Temple Publicity) and Christe Gonawela of Unitrac Holdings (21-14, 21-7).

Suresh de Silva of Seylan Bank won the men’s plate beating Indika Matharage of Cupid Exports (21-18, 22-20), while the Women’s Plate was won by Thushani Ruhunuaratchi of Janashakthi over Dilini Pathiraja of SriLankan Airlines (26-24, 21-19).

Graham Marshall (Head of Marketing of CIC Paints), Eraj Wijesinghe (Council Member of IBF) and Sumith Guruge (President of SLBA and Vice-President of the ABC) were among the distinguished invitees.