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| K.S. Pushpakumara |
Martin Van
Dooremalen |
In a bid to strengthen Sri Lanka’s medal hopes at the upcoming South Asian Federation (SAF) games, the Sri Lanka Badminton Association (SLBA) invited Technical Director of Badminton in the Netherlands, Martin Van Dooremalen, to aid in coaching the team.
Van Dooremalen will remain in the country observing and advising both the coaching staff and the players until they leave for the SAF games which will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 29-February 8.
Sri Lanka Badminton coach, K.S. Pushpakumara revealed, “He coaches with me and during the training sessions he steps in to help,”
He added that the foreign coach has been particularly useful in fine tuning the games of the doubles players.
The Netherlands coach sharing his views with the Sunday Times said he initially did not know much about the Sri Lankan Badminton scene except for a few matches he witnessed during the 2002 World Championship Preliminaries.
However once he arrived he immediately went to work and identified a flaw in the Sri Lankan game wherein they sometimes strike the shuttle too hard.
“If you hit very hard then your opponent does not have to move much because the shuttlecock goes deep into court unlike if you play soft shots,” Van Dooremalen said.
However he has been greatly impressed by the Sri Lankan game which he terms as being very “fast and speedy.” Another pleasant surprise was the passion the country possesses for the sport, revealing that he has seen a number of badminton courts throughout Colombo.
He explained that there is great potential for all Asian countries to dominate because the sport originated from the region and as such many Asian players are exposed to it from a very early age, unlike their western counterparts.
The Sri Lankan men’s squad comprises:- Niluka Karunaratne, Dinuka Karunaratne, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Diluka Karunaratne, Hasith Chanaka.
Standbys Lasith Menaka, Nayanakantha Wijesekera.
The women’s squad comprises: - Achini Ratnasiri, Thilini Jayasinghe, Chandrika de Silva, Lekha Shehani, Upuli Samanthika Weerasinghe, Nadeesha Gayathri.
Stand bys- Gayani Perera, Subodha Dahanayake |
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