Niluka earns Rio ticket

Sri Lanka's premier badminton player Niluka Karunaratne is certain of participating at the Rio Olympic Games according to the Tripartite Commission of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

According to the BWF, 172 players have qualified for the Olympic Games while six players including three men and three women will receive the Tripartite Commission invitation to qualify for this event.

So far, a total of 166 players have already qualified based on their rankings and Niluka Karunaratne and two other players have been selected based on the Tripartite Commission.

The Sri Lanka Badminton Federation (SLBF) were planning to send Lekha Shehani to the Games as she is ranked 132nd in the World Rankings at present.

The SLBF President Suraj Dandeniya is hoping to make a request to the BWF Executive Committee to get the Women's Tripartite Invitation as well so that Sri Lanka will be able to field another badminton player at the Games.

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