Sri Lanka Olympian Thilini Jayasinghe, who will be the first Sri Lankan shuttler to be seen in action at the 16th Asian Games here, said the opportunities that the country’s sportsmen and women are getting to compete at international level would help them to gain valuable experience and to perform better in future.
Jayasinghe, who created history here in China two years ago by becoming Sri Lanka’s first ever woman shuttler to compete in the 112-year-old history of modern Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, said Sri Lanka’s badminton players must play in more international tournaments to improve their world rankings and gain experience at top level.
The 24-year-old lass from the hill capital said she has been working hard since competing at last month’s Commonwealth Games and is determined to do well. “The Asian badminton standards are very high and the world champions are produced from this part of the world. Hence I expect a tough competition here. But that does not mean it is the end of the road. I will play my best and make every effort to advance to the next round,” she said today.
Jayasinghe will take on Indian Aditi Ajay Mutatkar in the first round of the women’s singles at Tianhe Gymnasium here on Tuesday morning. On the same evening, Jayasinghe will pair off with Subodha Kumari Yapa in their women’s doubles first round match against Thailand duo of Aroonkes and Voravich. Yapa will have only three hours rest before playing Japan’s Ai Goto in another women’s singles first round match on Tuesday night.
Mutatkar, who emerged women’s singles runner up at last year’s Syed Modi memorial India Open Grand Prix, too has been an experienced campaigner. Having sustained an injury in her right knee, the Indian woman shuttler is gradually making her come back. She made an inauspicious start here at the Asian Games yesterday, losing her women’s team championship match to Indonesia’s M.F. Kusumastuti in straight sets 10-21, 16-21. With Mutatkar coming to Tuesday’s women’s singles game with that losing mentality and after a knee injury, Sri Lankan Jayasinghe should make every effort to capitalize on pre-match advantage and make her presence felt.