Colombo District Badminton Association comes into court
November 11 of 2023 could be regarded as a significant day for badminton in Sri Lanka. Responding to the Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) mandate to move from a provincial to a district structure, the Colombo District Badminton Association (CDBA) set the shuttle spinning with its Inaugural General Meeting (IGM) held at the SSC with 15 charter members from reputed badminton clubs in the Colombo district. It is to the credit of experienced badminton coach Chinthaka Fernando, who worked tirelessly over several months behind the scene that CDBA became a reality.
Veteran sports administrator and a past president of Mercantile Badminton Association (MBA) and Vice President of SLB, Gamini Jayasuriya was unanimously elected President, while respected sports administrator, a former CEO of SLB, Trevor Reckerman accepted the mantle of Secretary. Joining the top tier as Treasurer, is the evergreen Women’s Badminton player and current SLB Asst. Secretary, Lakshmi Puncihewa.
SLB President Rohan de Silva graced the occasion while SLB Vice President Dinesh Jayawardena addressed the IGM highlighting the technical development taking place in the sport at the district level. SLB President Rohan de Silva congratulated CDBA for being the first to formalise a district level association and informed those present that several district groups will shortly establish their own associations, with Gampaha and Kalutara listed to do the honours within the Western Province very shortly.
CDBA President Gamin Jayasuriya in his acceptance speech, thanked all clubs for the confidence placed in him and emphasised the need to work closely together to develop an exemplary district association. He hoped that CDBA will be a great example for those district associations that will follow. CDBA Secretary Trevor Reckerman proposed the vote of thanks reiterating the intent of CDBA to make a real difference to the Badminton stock in the country.
Following a short presentation by Rohit Malandkar, brand consultant to CDBA who outlined how CDBA will make badminton an attractive and enterprising sport in Sri Lanka, the IGM adjourned for group photographs and fellowship among those present.
The CDBA invites all Colombo based badminton clubs to contact the Membership Chairman, Chinthaka Fernando by whasapp or mobile on 0712301515 or 0775821241, if they wish to join CDBA, whose first term will begin in January 2024.