Badminton: HNB win inaugural Super League

Hatton National Bank emerged champions at the first-ever Sri Lanka Badminton Super League (SLBSL) 2016, the ‘Battle of the Bankers’ tournament organised by the Seylan Bank and concluded at the Mercantile Badminton Headquarters courts last weekend.

Fourteen teams comprised of ten licensed commercial banks participated in this first tournament where teams were grouped into four groups with preliminary round matches were played on a full league basis. 

Winners of each group were advanced to the ‘Grand Slam’ title while the runners-up teams played for the ‘Cup’ title. 

All other losing teams were categorised into a knockout draw which was played for the ‘Plate’ title.

In a closely battled final of the Grand Slam Hatton National Bank were given a tough time by better fancied Seylan Bank ‘A’ where the fortunes swung from side to side and HNB shuttlers managed to squeeze through to a 4-3 victory. HNB won two Men’s singles, a Women’s Doubles and a Mixed Double while Seylan Bank ‘A’ won both Women’s Singles and a Men’s Doubles. 

In this close contest two games that stole the limelight were the Mixed Doubles where former Sri Lanka Women’s national champion Chandrika de Silva partnered by Thimeera Batagoda went down fighting to lose 21/18 and 28/26 to HNB’s Lakshan Silva and Nadeesha Gayathri.

In the Men’s Doubles Seylan Bank’s Manjula Perera/Rasanga Fernando combination scored a hard fought 2-1 win over HNB’s pair Sanka Illeperuma and Lochana Fonseka. 

Nations Trust Bank ‘A’ occupied the third place.

National Development Bank scored a cake-walk 4-0 victory over Bank of Ceylon to clinch the Cup title. NDB won all the matches with two Men’s Singles, a Women’s Singles and the Mixed Double. Commercial Bank defeated Pan Asia Bank 4-1 to clinch the third spot.

In the Plate finals Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation ‘A’ won the Mixed Double, two Women’s Singles and a Men’s Single to win the Plate final over Nations Trust Bank ‘B’ who won only a Men’s Double and a Men’s single match. Union Bank beat HSBC ‘B’ 4-0 for the third spot.

Results at-a-glance:

Grand Slam: 

Semi-finals: (1) Seylan Bank ‘A’ beat Seylan Bank ‘B’ 4-1; (2) HNB beat NTB ‘A’ 4-0

3rd Place: NTB ‘A’ beat Seylan Bank ‘B’ 4-2

Final: HNB beat Seylan Bank ‘A’ 4-3 (Hashan Anuradha HNB) beat Thimeera Bentotage (Seylan A) 21/10, 21/15), Lakshan Silva (HNB) beat Charith Jayawardene (Seylan A) 21/12, 21/10, Nadeeka Nilmini/Nadeesha Gayanthi (HNB) beat Pameesha Dishanthi/Hasini Jagoda (Seylan A) 21/8, 21/7, Lakshan Silva/Nadeesha Gayanthi (HNB) beat Chandrika de Silva/Thimeera Batagoda (Seylan A) 21/18, 28/26; Chandrika de Silva (Seylan A) beat Nadeesha Gayanthi (HNB) 21/7, 21/4, Pameesha Dishanthi (Seylan A) beat Namali Erandi (HNB) 21/18, 21/15, Manjula Perera/Rashanga Fernando (Seylan A) beat Sanka Illeperuma/Lochana Fonseka (HNB) 21/18, 17/21, 21/18.

Cup: 

Semi-finals: (1) Bank of Ceylon beat PABC 4-0; (2) NDB beat Commercial Bank 4-1

3rd Place: Commercial Bank beat PABC 4-1

Final: National Development Bank beat Bank of Ceylon 4-0

Plate: 

Semi-finals: (1) HSBC ‘A’ beat Union Bank 4-2; (2) NTB ‘B’ beat HSBC ‘B’ 4-0

3rd Place: Union Bank beat HSBC ‘B’ 4-0

Final: HSBC ‘A’ beat NTB ‘B’ 4-2