Over 580 shuttlers of all categories will be in action at the NPBA All-Island Open Badminton Championships which will be held from January 18th to 21st at the Vavuniya District Sports Complex in Omanthai.
Among the top ranked shuttlers in contention at the NPBA Open Championship are Thenuka de Silva, Aashinsa Herath, Thilina Rajakaruna, Savinka Weerasekara and defending Men’s Singles champion Malitha Sooriyarachchi among 41 contenders. The Women’s Singles title holder, Sithuli Ranasinghe, will have to confront the challenges dished out by favourites Panchali Adhikari, Varangana Jayawardena, Sanadi Dahamsa and a few others among the 14 in action, if she has the intention of defending her title for yet another year.
All eyes will be on Buwaneka Goonathileke and Jason Homer and Shenuk Samararatne and Savinka Weerasekara, who are tipped to be favourites among the Men’s Doubles pairs in contention this time around, as a total of 21 duos vie for the title. In the Women’s Doubles, the cynosure will be on Isuri Attanayake and Sithumi de Silva and Hasini Ambalangodage and Hasara Wijeratne, who are in prime form with a few international medals under their belts during the ended season. The Mixed Doubles segment will an interesting one to follow with 12 equally matched pairs vying for the plum.
The opening ceremony will take place on January 18th at 9:00am, followed by the preliminary rounds, leading up to the climax on January 20th with the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The excitement will continue on January 21st with the highly anticipated semi-finals and final matches, followed by the Closing Ceremony to mark the culmination of this championship.
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. The main attraction of the competition will be the Open events comprising Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
Organised by the Northern Province Badminton Association (NPBA), the four-day competition is sanctioned by Sri Lanka Badminton as a National Level 1 Ranking tournament, and is sponsored by Mobil, Li Ning, McFoil, 3M and GAC.
