Badminton-TT: Shuttle and Ping Pong bosses to be elected

The much awaited Annual General Meetings of the Sri Lanka Badminton and Sri Lanka Table Tennis Associations will be held on May 13 and 14 May at the Badminton Association Headquarters and at the National Institute for Sports Science auditorium at 5.00pm and 2.00pm respectively.   Though a large number of nominations were received, only a few will be eligible to contest at the AGMs due to the amendment of the Sports Act which prevents anyone who held office for four years will not be permitted to seek office again.   For the post of President of the SLBA five placed nominations but only two are left to contest.   Six nominations were received for the post of Secretary; two nominations were rejected leaving four in the fray.   Out of the 18 nominations for the post Vice President nine nominees with two given time to submit their C.Vs will be permitted to contest.   Only three out of six nominees for the post of Asst. Secretary, two out of four for the Treasurer’s post and two out of three nominees will be allowed to seek election for the year 2015 at the shuttle association.   The most interesting contest will be between the incumbent President of the Badminton Association Suraj Dandeniya and former national champion and past president veteran Prof. Ranjith De Silva for the top position of the controlling body.   List of probable contestants:   President: (1) Suraj Dandeniya (2) Prof. Ranjith De Silva   Secretary: (1) Ms. W.G. Punchihewa (2) Amal Dias (3) P.A.S. Wimalasuriya   Vice President: (1) Upali Tennekoon (2) Kitsiri Liyanagamage (3) Brig. Gamage (4) Sadeep Ratnayake (5) W.G. Punchihewa (6) P.A.S. Wimalasuriya (7) D.B. De Silva (8) A.G.G.R.M. Wijesinghe (9) R.F. Cyril De Silva. Pending: G.R. Muralitharan and A. Faizer   Treasurer: (1) M.K.W.S. De Silva (2) Ruwan Gallage   Asst. Treasurer: (1) Sadeep Ratnayake (2) Jayamini Illeperuma   At the Table Tennis Association’s Annual General Meeting it looks like the post at the top for the Presidency will be an uncontested one as Parliamentarian Kanaka Herath being a victim of the four year rule will give way for the former national Masters Champion and bronze medal winner at the World Masters Table Tennis championship Rajeewa Wijetunga.   Out of the 37 nominations received for the post of Vice President only 8 were eligible to contest and only two will be contesting for the post of secretary while two contestants will battle for the Asst Secretary post.   Following will seek office for the year 2015:   President: Rajeewa Wijetunga   Vice President: (1) Dr. Dilina Herath (2) Manura Fernando, (3) Vimarshana Gammampila, (4) Ashan Wickramanayake, (5) B.M.N. Abayasena, (6) Asokamala Tennakoon, (7) Vajira Premaratne, (8) M.G. Wasantha De Silva   Secretary: (1) Kasun Udara Withana (2) Ruwan Adikari   Asst. Secretary: Kasun Udara Withana, (2) Kasun Punchihewa   Treasurer: (1) M.S.M. Raseen, (2) Ajith Gunesekera, (3) H. Saman Hewage, (4) M. Premadasa, (5) Ms. D.R.T. Peiris   Asst. Treasurer: W.G.G. Prabath, (2) Nishlanka Sinhabahu, (3) Nihal Marasinghe, (4) Moorthy Ramaiyah, (5) W.B.A. Perera