Badminton in Sri Lanka might not enjoy super status, but the players and officials are aiming at associating themselves with the type of glory that the country’s cricketers have achieved at international level.
Interestingly, the Sri Lanka Badminton headquarters is situated just opposite the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket, at Maitland Crescent.
These shuttlers see the cricketers come and go in their flashy vehicles and the publicity they get on television, all because cricket in the country received a shot in the arm after the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
The upcoming South Asian Games (SA Games), presents a great opportunity for the sport to benefit from if the players win a rich haul of medals. Sri Lanka’s coach K. S. Pushpakumara is of the opinion that the players are aiming at gold medals at the next edition of the games which will be held in Bangladesh from February 4 to 28.
At the 2006 edition of the Games held in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka managed to win two silver medals (Men’s and women’s team events) and four bronze medals in the individual events. According to coach Pushpakumara, the reason for the success was the team having ample time on their hands to prepare. "We also used a lot of scientific training," said Pushpakumara, who was entrusted to train the players at the last SA Games. For the record, Pushpakumara is a former national player and was the Sri Lanka coach at the SA Games in 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2006. He is also armed with a diploma obtained from the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, India and is also a BWF (World) Academy qualified coach.
He sees the SA Games as one of the best opportunities for Sri Lankan players to win medals in their own region. He also rates Sri Lanka at second place behind India in terms of how the badminton players have performed this year, in South Asia.
He is coaching the national players after a lapse of three years and observes that his charges have made good progress. "The young players have received a lot of exposure at foreign tournaments and it’s good to have the Asian Under-16 gold medal winning pair in the team to boost our chances of winning medals. The seniors too have made improvements and this is reflected in their game plan, fitness, accuracy and speed," he said.
He said that the Karunaratne brothers (Niluka, Dinuka and Diluka), carried Sri Lanka’s hopes in the men’s team, in terms of winning medals. "The doubles pair of R. S. Dhahanayake and Hasitha Chanaka are shaping up well and should do well in the tournament," he said.
Commenting on the women’s team, he said veteran player Chandrika De Silva had brought in a lot of experience to the side and a lot was expected from her. Pushpakumara, however, had a word of caution for De Silva, saying that she was playing in too many events and she should concentrate on a few events instead. The other promising women’s players in the side are Achini Ratnasiri and Upuli Samanthika Weerasinghe and Olympian Thilini Jayasinghe.
Members of the Sri Lanka team have also been blessed to have the services of Netherlands’ national coach Martin Van Doremaler who is working with the players. Doremaler, according to Pushpakumara, is expected to fine tune the training of the players. Pushpakumara said that Doremaler was happy with the progamme he had drawn up for the players.
The physical fitness of the players is handled by renowned fitness trainer Mohotilal Jayatilake and the manager of the team is Squadron Leader Amal Dias, who is also a member of the National Pool Management Committee.
The Sri Lanka team:
Niluka Karunaratne, Dinuka Karunaratne, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Diluka Karunaratne, R. S. Dahanayake, and Hasitha Chanaka (Men). Achini Ratnasiri, Thilini Jayasinghe, Chandrika de Silva, Lekha Shehani, Upuli Samanthika and Nadeesha Gayathri (Women).(www.island.lk)
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