Badminton: Sri Lanka earn 21st in global ranking

The Sri Lanka badminton team defeated Ireland 3-2 to emerge champions in Group 'C' to occupy 21st position in global rankings at the Sudirman Cup Badminton Championship being played at the Guangxi Sports Complex, Nanning, China. 

Both Sri Lanka and Ireland completed the preliminary rounds on an unbeaten note winning all the matches of each group. 

Ireland, ranked 21st, made Sri Lanka to sweat for victory winning Mixed Doubles and Men's Singles at the start. 

Dinuka Karunaratne who won all his matches with ease in the preliminary round went down to Nhat Nguyen. 

The Mixed Doubles combination of Sam Magee and Chloe Magee made a hard fought win over Sri Lanka's pair Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa. 

The best clash of the day was the Women's Doubles event which lasted over 80 minutes.

Sri Lanka represented by Thilini Hendahewa and Kavidi Sirimannage won the first set easily 21-15. 

The Irish pair fought back bravely to win the second set 24-22. 

Hendahewa and Sirimannage made short work in the third set to win 21-17. 

Results: 

Mixed Doubles: Ireland won 2-1 
Sam Magee/Chloe Magee beat Sachin Dias/Thilini Hendahewa (20-22, 21-16, 21-17) 

Men's Singles: Ireland won 2-0 
Nhat Nguyen beat Dinuka Karunaratne (21-12, 21-18) 

Women's Singles: Sri Lanka won 2-0 
Kavindi Sirimannage beat Kate Frost (21-12, 21-7) 

Men's Doubles: Sri Lanka won 2-1 
Sachin Dias/Buwaneka Goonetileka beat Sam Magee/Nhat Nguyen (17-21, 21-16, 21-11) 

Women's Doubles: Sri Lanka won 2-1 
Thilini Hendahewa/Kavidi Sirimannage beat Rachel Darragh/Chloe Magee (21-15, 22-24, 21-17)