Hirantha and Shani win a double each

by Lal Gunasekera

BADMINTON: Ceylinco's Hirantha Dharmapriya and Shani Mendis won a 'double' each at the Dulux Mercantile Novices Championships of the Mercantile Badminton Association (MBA) at the Royal College Sports Complex last Monday. This was sponsored by CIC Paints.

Dharmapriya won the Men's Singles title in a three-setter (19-21, 21-12, 21-11) over Harsha de Silva also of Ceylinco and then these two shuttlers combined effectively to win the Men's Doubles title over L. Fonseka of HNB and D. Nilushan of Scanwell Logistics also in a three-setter (16-21, 21-9, 21-17).

Shani won the Women's Singles title also beating another Ceylinco player Pamuditha Gunatilleke in straight sets (21-14, 21-19), while combining together, they won the Women's Doubles title over Ayesha Silva and D. D. Kulaweera in straight sets (21-17, 21-18). The latter pair were from SriLankan Airlines.

The Mixed Doubles title was won by Harsha de Silva of Ceylinco and D. D. Kulaweera of SriLankan Airlines who beat Ceylinco's combination of D. M. R. N. Fernando and Pamuditha Gunatilleke in straight sets (21-14, 21-16).

K. G. D. C. Jayantha of LOLC won the Men's Veterans' Singles title, beating T. Wijesuriya of Commercial Bank in a three-setter (22-24, 21-18, 21-19), while the Doubles title went to L. H. W. Kumara and M. Silva of Colombo Dockyard who beat S. B. Wasala and T. Wijesuriya of Commercial Bank 21-13, 27-25.

Minendra Samarakoon of Seylan Bank won the Women's Veterans' Singles title defeating Manjula Hemachandra of SriLankan Airlines in straight sets (21-14, 21-14) while this same combination of Manjula and Minendra also won the Doubles title, while Seyan Mohamed of LOLC won the Masters Singles titles.

Shehan Rajapakse (Sales Manager of CIC Paints) was the chief guest.