Viren, Panchali clinch double crowns at WPBA Badminton Open
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Viren Nettasinghe (L) with his partner Rasindu Hendahewa
Viren Nettasinghe of St. Peter’s College, Colombo and Panchali Janodya Adhikari of Mahamaya Girls’ School, Kandy clinched the Men’s and Women’s Singles titles at the Western Province Badminton Association (WPBA) organised Open Ranking Championships marked the return of competitive badminton action at the MBA and Otters courts over last weekend.
Nettasinghe, 18, beat Dumindu Abeywickrama, 21-14, 22-20 in the Men’s Singles final while Adhikari overcame her counterpart Ranithma Liyanage in a thrilling final which was stretched to three sets (19-21, 21-14, 21-12).
Earlier, Nettasingle also won the Men’s Doubles title with his partner Rasindu Hendahewa when the talented duo overcame Resintha de Silva and Shamika de Silva in straight sets (21-12, 21-11).
Meanwhile, Adhikari and her Doubles partner Manudi Mithara had to satisfy with the runner-up position after losing to Buthmi Galagamage and Nadeesha Gayanthi (16-21, 21-18, 21-17) in the final.
Panchali Adhikari (L) also claimed a double crown
The Mixed Doubles title was won by Thulith Palliyaguru and Buthmi Galagamage, who beat Lochana de Silva and Raini Abeysingha (21-16, 21-16) in the final.
Sachen Fernando of St. Peter’s College won the Under-17 Boy’s Singles title while Siyath Senaratne emerged victorious in the Under-19 Boy’s Singles final. Varangana Jayawardana won the Under-17 Girls’ Singles title while Suhasni Vidanage emerged the Under-19 Girls’ Singles winner.
Sunil Jayasiri, Rohan Fernando, George Karunanayake, Mahinda Jayaweera, Subash Janaka, Gihan Ranasinghe and Ruvini Rathnasiri also won Singles titles in their respective age groups.
The tournament was the first open ranking event to take place following a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the country’s badminton competition schedule. The tournament was conducted under the supervision of Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) with all measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 being followed. SLT-Mobitel was the main sponsor of the event which saw over 300 shuttlers in action.
| Western Province Open Badminton Championships 2021 | |
Winners: Panchali Adhikari/Manudi Mithara
Winners: Jason Homer/Savinaka Weerasekara
Winner: Suhasni Vidanage
Winner: Siyath Senaratne
Winners: Maneesha Jayawardhana/
Winners: Aashinsa Herath/Saajid Majeed
Winner: Varangana Jayawardana
Winner: Sachen Fernando
Winners: Thulith Palliyaguru/Buthmi Galagamage
Winners: Buthmi Galagamage/Nadeesha Gayanthi
Winners: Rasindu Hendahewa/Viren Nettasinghe
Winner: Panchali Adhikari
Winner: Viren Nettasinghe |