Sri Lankan badminton buried in Mumbai

Hardly one week before the wounds had healed after being crucified in Colombo in the Sri Lanka International Satellite Badminton Championships the local shuttlers took wing to Mumbai for the Indian International Satellite Championships only to be embalmed.

Many ex-international players who know their badminton onions predicted the result before the team left for Mumbai and said it is a criminal waste of time and foreign exchange to have sent the team. They went further to say that the writing was on the wall before the team boarded the flight and Sri Lanka should forget about participating in international tournaments at least for some time till the country reached some standard in the Asian region at least.

Winning the bronze medal at the last south Asian Games meet in Colombo was nothing to crow about. With only countries in the South Asia region participating, nothing short of the gold was worth it.

An official who accompanied the teams to India, complained that when the Sri Lanka team arrived in India, no accommodation was provided until almost four hours had lapsed. Here again, one wonders if it would have made any difference to Sri Lanka’s performance?

Results:

Women’s singles: First round – Kim Moon Hi (Korea) beat Nadeesha Gayanthri 21/9, 21/12. Hong Joo Hung (Korea) beat Thilini Jayasinghe 21/16, 21/9.

Men’s singles: First round – Amila Yatapana received walkover from Balram Thapa (Nepal). Gholamreza Bagheri (Iran) beat Diluka Karunaratne 21/6, 21/13. Cheol Baek Shin (Korea) beat Lasitha Menaka 21/17, 21/19. Rutuparna Kulkarni (India) beat Sameera Sandakelum 21/13, 22/24, 21/11.

Mixed doubles: First round – Chang Hun Pin and Lim Ying Loo (Malaysia) beat Dinuka Karunaratne and Thilini Jayasinghe 21/16, 16/21, 21/15.

Men’s doubles: Second round – Khoo Chung Chia and Abdul Latiff (Malaysia) beat Yukthi Perera and Sameera Sandakelum 21/11, 21/14. Lee Jung and Kim Ki Jung (Korea) beat Lasith Malinga and Amila Yatapana 21/7, 21/9. Bristow Marcos and Xavier Jason (India) beat Dinuka Karunaratne and Diluka Karunaratne 21/12, 21/12.

Women’s doubles: First round – Balan Aparna and Delia Rajakrishna s(India) beat Thilini Jayasinghe and Nadeesha Gayanthi 21/8, 21/5.