 Niluka floats like a butterfly
by Tyrell Peiris
Being swift on the court like a
butterfly and an astute reader of his opponents strong points and
weaknesses have been the hallmarks in the successful career of Sri
Lankas badminton asset, 24-year old Niluka Karunaratnes career.
Following in his father Luhis footsteps `like father like son Niluka has
of course gone the distance. Niluka, who took to the sport following in
his fathers foot steps, says that his success story has been the hard
work put in by him. “Regular practice and working hard has given me a
distinct advantage over others in staying at the top,” enthuses Niluka
who did his country proud when he reached the quarter finals in the mens
singles at the last Commonwealth Games.
Of course, as Niluka puts it his fathers influence has helped him
along in his badminton career. “My father was a former national player
and is a former coach and that has helped me a long way in reaching the
standard I am today”, says a smiling Niluka. In fact, Niluka has made a
lasting impact on the local badminton scene having won the
national singles title for eight consecutive years. A record feat at
that.
Niluka also has the distinction of being the youngest national
champion when he broke into the limelight winning the nationals at the
age of sweet sixteen. He has quite an impressive international record -
runner-up four times at the Walsh Mens Open singles final 2004,
Australian Open Championships singles final 2006, 2007 Iran
International Championship and 2008 Uganda International Championship.
In fact, going into Nilukas achievements abroad give quite an insight
of the player he is. He has enjoyed success defeating several top ranked
international players.
 Some of his memorable victories were over Indonesian No. 6 at the
Asian Badminton championships 2003, Australian No. 1 (world ranking 38)
at the Australian Open in 2004, New Zealand No. 1 (world ranking No. 58)
at the same event, Malaysian No. 6 at Asian Championships 2005, Canadian
No. 1 (world ranking No. 18) at Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006,
Japanese No.8 at Bahrain International in 2006, Japanese No. 8 at
Bahrain International 2007, Portugese No. 1 (world ranking 54) at
Pakistan International 2007 and Spanish No. 1 (world ranking 44) at the
Uganda International 2008.
|
