|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 8 December 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Badminton queen Chandrika eyes record by LAL GUNASEKERA The reigning queen of badminton in Sri Lanka 28-year-old Chandrika de Silva is determined to break the records of Chandrika Mallawaratchi and Kaushalya Rodrigo (nee Dissanayake). Both Mallawaratchi (1971 to 1977) and Kaushalya Rodrigo (1989 to 1990 and 1992 to 1996) have won the National Women's Singles titles on seven occasions each. Last week, Chandrika de Silva won the title for the 6th consecutive year at the historic Golden Jubilee National Championships of the Sri Lanka Badminton Association at the Royal College Sports Complex. Apart from winning the Women's singles title for six years Chandrika, also won the women's doubles title too for the sixth occasion (1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002) and the mixed doubles title too for the sixth time (1997 to 2002). She thus won the coveted Triple Crown for the fourth occasion (1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002). A former student of Swarnapali BMV, Anuradhapura, Chandrika took to the racquet game very early in life and since then there has been no stopping this dusky lass from going from strength to strength. Coached by A.N. Wimalaratne during her school career, Chandrika won every age group title (under 13 to under 19) at the Junior National Championships from 1987 to 1993. She won her first national singles title in 1997. Chandrika has also won the coveted Triple Crown at the Ariyadasa Silva Memorial Open Championships also for six years (1995 to 2000), as well as winning it on three occasions (1993, 1997 and 1998) at the Nationalised Services Open Championships where she won a 'double' in 1994. This year (2002), she lost in the final to an Indian girl in a three setter, lost in the semi-finals of the doubles, but won the mixed doubles title with Duminda Jayakoddy. She toured England in 1990 with the Sri Lanka School's side and has represented the country at the Uber Cup at Singapore in 1994, Philippines in 1986, New Zealand in 1998, New Delhi, India in 2000 and in the Netherlands earlier this year (2002). She has also figured in three World Championships at Scotland in 1997, Denmark in 1999 and Spain in 2001. She has also represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in 1998 and Manchester, England this year (2002) 1999 Asian Games in Thailand and Asian Championships also in Thailand in 1998. Chandrika also won a gold medal in mixed doubles at the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games staged in Sri Lanka and helped the country win a silver medal too in the team event, while striking silver in the singles at the SAARC Championships in India a few years ago. She also became the first Sri Lankan to win a satellite tournament when she won the singles title in Dhaka, Bangladesh this year (2002 and being runners-up in the doubles. Employed at the Seylan Bank's Fort branch as a Senior Banking Assistant in the Central Clearing Department since 1996, Chandrika has been given the opportunity of being accommodated at the SLBA headquarters at Maitland Place together with Dilhani de Silva (a lass from Ambalangoda and employed at Janashakthi Insurance) so that they could continue with their training program without any interruptions and both these players are grateful to the SLBA for its assistance. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
