Sri Lanka junior badminton players on Sunday returned home following a successful campaign in Guwahati, India where they clinched two silver and seven bronze medals from individual events apart from two runner-up trophies in team events at the South Asia Regional Junior Badminton Championships.
The tournament was organised by the Assam Badminton Association under the Supervision of Asia Badminton and Badminton Association India and saw shuttlers from five countries, namely Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepan, Maldives and Bangladesh apart from the hosts, in action.
At Deshbhakta Tarunram Phookan Indoor Stadium at RC Barooah Sports Complex in the North Eastern Indian city, Sri Lanka finished runners-up in both Under-15 and 17 age groups while hosts India clinched the golds on both occasions.
The Under-15 team included Mihila Jayaweera, Thejana Herath, Nethmi Ratnayake and Pawani, Illeperumaarachchi. The U-15 team defeated Maldives 5-0, Nepal 5-0 and Bhutan 5-0 before going down to India 0-5. On the other hand, the Under-17 team, which Included Pulina Wellalage, Shenuk Samarathne, Ranithma Liyanage and Varangana Jayawardena, also trounced Bhutan 5-0, Nepal 5-0 and Maldives 5-0 before losing to India 0-5.
In the U-15 mixed doubles, Mihila Jayaweera and Nethmi Ratnayake secured the bronze medal after losing to Koundilya Prateek and Bhatoye Naishaa Kaur of India 21-14, 21-16 in the semi-finals while Thejana Herath and Pawani Illeperumaarachchi fell to eventual champions Garg Abhinav and Andluri Tanvi Reddy of India 21-9, 21-7 in the last-eight stage.
Jayaweera and Herath both reached the quarters in the Boys’ U-15 singles, but failed to advance.
Illeperumaarachchi and Ratnayake reached the U-15 girls’ doubles final, but lost 21-10, 21-7 to Bhatoye Naishaa Kaur and Andluri Tanvi Reddy of India therefore secured the silver.
Meanwhile, in the Boys U-17 singles, Shenuk Samararatne won the bronze medal after reaching the semis before losing to Sanskar Saraswat of India who eventually ended up becoming the runner-up.
Top seeds Jayawardana and Liyanage both reached the girls’ singles semi-finals, but were beaten by their Indian counterparts, Aishani Tiwari (21-13, 21-14) and Rujula Ramu (21-14, 21-16) respectively.
Samararatne and Jayawardana lost to eventual champions Saraswat and Tiwari of India
21-11, 21-19 in the U-17 mixed doubles while Pranay Shettigar and Ramu Rujula of India defeated Wellalage and Liyanage 21-13, 16-21, 21-15 despite a fierce fightback from the Sri Lankan duo in the semi-finals as both losing pairs secured bronze medals.
Sri Lanka’s second silver-medal came when Samararatne and Wellalage reached the U-17 boys’ doubles final. However, the pair lost 21-10, 21-13 to Indians Pranay and Saraswat in the title clash.
The Sri Lankan girls U-17 doubles pair of Jayawardana and Liyanage also secured a podium spot when they reached the semis where they were defeated by Tiwari and Rujula of India.
The team received a warm welcome upon their arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport earlier on Sunday morning.