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The hills were alive with the swish of rackets and smashing shuttles as the popular Summer Season Badminton Level I Championships came to a close last week. What was noteworthy was the performances of Sri Lanka’s top shuttlers who left no room for contention by winning all the plums of the scintillating competition. With Olympic prospect Niluka Karunaratne away on the international qualifying circuit and brother Dinuka domiciled in the UK on an advanced training program, the rest of the Elite Squad were equal to the task. Ranthushka Karunatilake, for long in the shadows of his more renowned...

Sri Lanka have suffered a major blow ahead of the tour of South Africa with the team’s senior most player Angelo Mathews being ruled out with a right hamstring injury. Chairman of Selectors Ashantha de Mel confirmed to The Island that Mathews will be out for about four weeks but expected him to be fit for the home Test series against England. Mathews, who captained Colombo Kings on Sunday’s semi-final clash against Galle Gladiators in the Lanka Premier League was in pain as he was bowling and he left the field. The former captain has been plagued by a series of injuries in the last three ...

Top seeds Luka Knese and Thehan Wijemanne advanced to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles, while Anika Seneviratne, the top seed in the women’s singles and her sister Alana gave walk overs to their opponents in the women’s singles of the Clay Court Nationals continued at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts on Tuesday. In the women’s singles, Nelini Jayasuriya (bt. Vonara de Alwis 6-0, 6-1) and Savini Jayasuriya (bt. Arella de Zoysa 6-1, 6-0), Hasali Gajaba (bt. Tania Doloswala 6-2, 6-2), Sethmi Sumanaweera (bt. Zeenath Zihar 6-1, 6-1), Janali Manamperi (bt. Saajida Razick 7-5,...

Niluka Karunaratne raises his hands in jubilation after defeating world number eight Kenichi Tago of Japan at the 2012 London Olympics. Sri Lanka Badminton says that Niluka Karunaratne is in contention to qualify and represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics. (File Pic RF) All year long, most of the national athletes have been training without a goal in sight. As in most sports, Badminton too had its fair share of missed competitions, both local and international. A frustrating sojourn in fact for many players who remain frustrated with a cascade of cancelled tournaments all over the world....