The EPBA All-Island Open Badminton Championships will get at the WABER Indoor Stadium in Batticaloa with 488 shuttlers set to compete at the five-day competition. Sanctioned by Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) as a National Ranking Level 1 competition, the tournament is organised by the Eastern Province Badminton Association (NPBA) with a fleet of top ranked local shuttlers expected to compete under different categories from January 23rd to 27th.
Shenuk Samararatne will enter the Men’s Singles category as the top ranked player, followed by Thilina Rajakaruna, Roshan Padmakumara and Aashinsa Herath also vying for the main title. Top seed Rashmi Mudalige comes in as one of the favourites in the Women’s Singles alongside Nethmi Ratnayake, Varangana Jayawardena, Panchali Adhikari and Sithuli Ranasinghe. The Mixed Doubles will be a duel among eight pairs with Samiru Ranasinghe and Chaminduni Dissanayake entering as top seeds, followed by Thulith Palliyaguru and Panchali Adhikari and Thilina Rajakaruna and Nethmi Ratnayake.
Dinura Priyashantha and Siyath Senaratne are tipped to top the Men’s Doubles with Madhuka Dulanjana and Lahiru Weerasinghe expected to pair up to challenge the top seed duo. The Women’s Doubles event will be an exciting affair with Varangana Jayawardena and Rashmi Mudalige coming as top seeds, and the inclusion of Isuri Attanayake and Sithumi de Silva.
The championship will feature a wide range of events from Under-11 to Under-19 in the Junior category and Over-30 to Over-70 in the Senior category, with an addition of three Combined Age segment of 100+. The main attraction of the competition will be the Open events comprising Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles, with an addition of a Plate Championship for the losers in Men’s and Women’s Singles.
The opening ceremony will take place on January 23rd at 9:00am, followed by the preliminary rounds, leading up to the climax on January 26th with the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The excitement will continue on January 27th with the highly anticipated semi-finals and final matches, followed by the Closing Ceremony to mark the culmination of this championship.
A prize money of Rs.750,000 for all events based on the number of entries will be on offer, in addition to trophies, medals and certificates guaranteed for winners, runners-up and semi-finalists of each event of the tournament. Junior winners will receive appropriate gifts instead of prize money, according to the decision taken by the tournament organisers. The tournament is sponsored by Mobil, Li Ning, McFoil, 3M, GAC and FIMA.
