Standard Chartered Bank ‘A’ team and E.B. Creasy ‘A’ teams registered convincing wins over their opponents on the opening day of the Mercantile Inter-Firm Badminton Championship that began at S. Thomas’ Sports Complex Mt. Lavinia yesterday.

Standard Chartered A team routed Astron A team by five matches to nil in the Men’s H division Group A league round match. In the same division E.B. Creasy defeated Alpha Orient also by five matches to nil in the league round.

Nalin Nanayakkara of NDB in action against Seylan Bank. (Picture by Ranjith Perera)

Standard Chartered Bank was represented by Vishva, Rukshan Saranga, Chanaka and Ashan.
E.B. Creasy was represented by Prasanna Perera, Ushantha Gunasekera, Thuritha Kuruppu and Duminda Ranaweera.

Expo Lanka ‘A’ also registered a good 4/1 win over Seylan Bank ‘D’ team. NDB ‘B’ team won twice by a similar margin of 4 matches to one over Seylan ‘D’ and Alpha Orient. DSI and E.B. Creasy ‘B’ teams also won by three matches to two over Standard Chartered ‘A’ and DSI respectively in the league round.

The H division has four groups and will play in the league round before finding the winners and runners-up in each group that will go to the semi-finals. The women’s veteran’s group had six teams participating and they will play each other once to find the winner and runner-up teams.

Hatton National Bank lost twice to John Keells Holdings and Seylan Bank ‘A’ while they beat Seylan ‘B’ by three matches to nil. John Keells Holdings also beat Airport and Aviation by two matches to one. Airport and Aviation also lost to Seylan ‘A’ but beat Seylan ‘B’.

Seylan Bank ‘A’ received a walk over from their ‘B’ team in the other fixture. The mens A divison has only three teams taking part and they will begin their matches on December 4. The nine day tournament will culminate on December 5 with all the finals to be played.