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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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Junior National Badminton C'ships attract large entries by Lal Gunasekera One thousand one hundred players, including 26 from Jaffna, have qualified to play in the final rounds of the 35th Junior National Championships of the Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Association (SLSBA). The tourney is sponsored by the National Savings Bank (NSB) from October 4 to 7 at three venues (SLBA Stadium, S. Thomas' Indoor Stadium and Royal College Sports Complex) with the finals scheduled to be worked off only at the Royal College Sports Complex courts on October 7 from 2 p.m. Oliver Guruge of the SLBA, said that it was during the late E. R. S. R. Coomaraswamy's era that this tournament got underway in 1956 and it was then conducted by the SLBA. It was only after the formation of the SLSBA in 1970, that the Junior Nationals were conducted by the SLSBA from 1971 todate. He further disclosed that the zonal system started in 1996 or 1997 which was then worked off in districts and the final rounds in Colombo, but this year, the SLSBA did away with the district system which has seen an increase in the number figuring in the final rounds in Colombo. Last year (2004), there were players from 141 schools, but this year (2005) sees players from 163 schools taking part. The Secretary of the SLSBA, Tillekeratne, said that the qualifying rounds were staged in 17 zones from July to August, which saw a record number of entries numbering 5,621 from 163 schools. He further said that it was the first time in 22 years that players from Jaffna are competing at the Junior nationals which are held in five age groups (Under-19, 17, 15, 13 and 11) in both singles and doubles for boys and girls with a mixed doubles event too being worked off in the Under-19 age group. The President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka, Hemasiri Fernando, will be the chief guest at the finals with E. Narangoda (General Manager of the National Savings Bank) as the guest of honour. Last year (2004), Dinuka Karunaratne of Royal College won the coveted Triple Crown. The Boys Overall Championships were won by Royal, followed by Dharmaraja and Richmond, while Anula Vidyalaya won the Girls title from Lindsay BV and Visakha. |
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