Niluka’s plight bothers new Sports Minister

Leading badminton player Niluka Karunaratne has been banned from the sport for one year by the Sri Lanka Badminton Federation, allegedly for attacking another player in an open tournament held in Anuradhapura. Sports Minister Aluthgamage said that he plans to probe into the matter and see that justice is done to this leading shuttler.

Niluka Karunaratne

“I am waiting until Niluka make an appeal and I will see as to what could be done at this end,” said Aluthgamage to the Sunday Times. Besides this, Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage will act according to an advisory committee on monetary affairs. The reason for this is on earlier occasions there have been allegations of wrong doing whilst handling monetary dealings. Due to this fact Aluthgamage has decided to have this advisory committee who will advise the minister on how to spend monies that has been allocated to various sports bodies and their other monetary dealings.

Since the Ten Sports TV deal comes to an end on December 31, 2010, the Sports Minister will seek the advice of the advisory committee and a technical committee. Originally this deal was initiated by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Depending on the advice he gets from these bodies, the minister will decide whether the Sports Ministry should attend to this matter or let the SLC to conduct it under the scrutiny of the Ministry.

The Minister said he has no intention of interfering into SLC affairs until the Cricket World Cup 2011 is over. He said decision to stage the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Hambantota will be made next year. “This task takes top priority,” said the Minister

He plans to have discussions with various sports federations to change the existing Sports Law and allow federations to conduct their Annual General Meetings (AGM) once in two years. He is of the opinion that this will give the federations a little more time to conduct their affairs in a fitting manner.

He also plans to nominate liaison officers from the Sports Ministry to see that these federations conduct their affairs fairly. These officers will report to the Sports Ministry at regular intervals.

One of his aims is to see that sports officials cut down on their foreign jaunts and these funds are to be allocated to train and groom athletes.

As a parting shot the Sports Minister said that the Sports Ministry is not a den of thieves, but there are officers who are lethargic. “There are several hardworking, honest individuals in the Sports Ministry. I plan to get them and the others, to work towards making the Sports Ministry a better and fruitful place.”
He also said that when he referred to the cutting down of officials he was speaking about the Asian Beach Sports Festival held in Muscat, Oman recently.

The NOC had presented seven officials to officiate at the Beach Sports Festival and he had cut them down to three as he did not like so many officials going on tour and taxing Sports Ministry funds.

(www.sundaytimes.lk)

Controversy surrounds badminton tour

By T.B. Rahaman

The Sri Lanka Badminton Association in coordination with the Schools Badminton Association is planning to send a large number of junior players to participate in the Li Ning Youth Badminton Championship to be held in Singapore from December 13 to 19.

The Championship sponsored by Li Ning will feature events in five age groups of under-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19.

Sri Lanka will send juniors for three age groups of under-15, 17 and 19. The two lower age groups have been omitted by the Education Ministry.

According to the president of the Sri Lanka Badminton Association (SLBA) Roshan Gunawardana, the Education Ministry refused to include the lower age groups as they were not allowed to represent the country at that age.

Gunawardena told Daily Mirror that the players were picked by the selection committee of the Schools Badminton Association and the four officials who will accompany the players are also from the Schools Association.

Twenty countries are sending their players to represent their respective countries at this prestigious championship.

However, the letter (dated 20 Nov. 2010) sent to the principals of the schools seeking the release of players for the championship was sent on letter heads of the SLBA and signed by the president Roshan Gunawardana.

The letter states that the concerned child has been selected to represent the country at the Li Ning Junior Badminton Championship and that the principal’s permission was needed to take the player to Singapore.

Gunawardana also said that the government was not giving money to take the children for this tournament and that each child should find their own funds.

Entries for this tournament closed on November 15, 2010 in Singapore.

Parents complained that they were asked to deposit the money to a bank account that they do not know to whom it belongs. The amount being collected from each player is Rs. 95,000/= and more than 40 players have been selected.

When Roshan Gunawardana became the president of the SLBA he embarked on a venture to take the game to the village. Now he is working overtime to send players for foreign tournaments. Is this a way to entice the players to take to the game and reach a high standard soon? One parent who contacted the Daily Mirror asked.

Two years ago another controversial tour like this to Singapore where a lot of school children paid and took part ended in disaster when the parents complained that the children were put up at hotels which also doubled up as brothels.

(www.dailymirror.lk)

Those punished in sport must have avenues to comeback

COMMENT

by Ravi Nagahawatte

The Sri Lanka Badminton Federation (SLBF) must be commended for taking stern disciplinary action against Sri Lanka’s number one male badminton player Niluka Karunaratne for misbehaving at the recently held Badminton Tournament in Kurunegala.

Top sportsmen and women are hard to control, given that the energies within are always trying to bubble to the surface. They always look for avenues to discharge these energies. Most expel their energies within the boundaries of sport. For some individuals who don’t value discipline, these energies, which can cause an ‘explosion’ within, can really land you in trouble.

Karunaratne (the eldest of three badminton playing brothers), is reported to have taunted a senior female player who was playing on another court and then allegedly assaulted the female player’s brother, who had come to his sibling’s aid.

This incident has to be viewed from many aspects because this act of shame also gives us the opportunity to learn a few lessons.

Remember, Niluka is not a novice and taunting a competitor amounts to bringing the game into disrepute. He was also a competitor at the same tournament and it was unjust to mentally torment a player, for whatever reasons.

In cricket, where sledging was once at its best, players are now meek as lambs. Cricketers don’t sledge anymore because the ICC players’ code specifies that they adopt a zero tolerance when it comes to verbally abusing players.

Badminton rules too are strict and it’s an offence if a player clinches his or her fist and aims it at the opponent in a threatening manner when celebrating a point. What the authorities couldn’t check for some time was the indiscipline in badminton players and the present set of badminton administrators have shown in no uncertain terms that those who don’t behave have no place in the sport.

The second point to ponder on this issue is why such a senior player in Niluka can’t maintain cordial relationship with other players. Niluka and the female player we are referring to, Chandrika de Silva, have time and again been part of the same contingent which represented Sri Lanka at international competitions.

It’s shocking that there is no camaraderie among these senior players. What is the example senior players like Niluka will set for the horde of junior players who were watching this incident?

The initial harsh punishment of suspending the offender is good given the fact that the authorities also have a backup plan to ‘rehab’ this player. It’s not very correct for the badminton authorities to suspend a player and then forget him.

In rugby we have a method where players who serve bans for abusing referees are taken into officiating at matches. This allows the player suspended to see what he did wrong from the perspective of a referee. Many rugby players have cherished this system and have made comebacks as players.

A renowned fitness trainer in the country once told this writer that some uppity players in the badminton scene were not bad after all. He said that if players are approached tactfully and with respect they’d be very easy to control. He showed me how it’s done. It was amazing to see the little methods he used, whether it was to drive in a point or get their cooperation. He used very kind words and made the players look important. The players were soon ‘eating off his hand’.

You need to maintain discipline, but at the same time you have to know not to destroy the self-respect within the players when punishment is handed out. There is no sport without players and players need to have a system of being able to comeback after finishing their course of punishment.

The badminton fraternity sincerely hopes Niluka will not continue to be a victim of brash sports administration. Niluka will be ‘clean’ after serving his punishment and should be allowed to return to the sport for which he has sacrificed so much. There is an old saying, ‘there are so many ways to skin a cat’.

At this juncture it would be terrible if Niluka is not punished. It would be worse if the player goes into a shell and fades away. The SLBF has created a new problem by solving an existing problem.

Now they have to see to the ‘bringing up of Niluka’ from a sports administrator’s point of view. This is an era where even former terrorists are pardoned given the best of perks. The badminton fraternity is watching!

(www.island.lk)

National Champion Niluka Karunaratne suspended

Went into a tantrum claims Chandrika Silva…

By T.B. Rahaman

Sri Lanka’s top badminton player Niluka Karunaratne has been suspended by the Badminton Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) on alleged misbehaviour at a tournament held in Anuradhapura recently.

President of the BASL Roshan Gunawardana told ‘Daily Mirror’ that according to reports submitted by the match referee and the umpire concerned Karunaratne is alleged to have conducted himself in an unbecoming manner and was found to be the guilty party.

The trouble had cropped up during a mixed doubles semi-final match between Dinuka Karunaratne (Niluka’s brother) and his partner and Chandrika de Silva and her partner.

The match had gone into a third set with the first two being shared. During the third set, it was Chandrika de Silva and her partner who were leading on 20/17 when Niluka Karunaratne who was also playing in the adjoining court had finished his match hurriedly and gone near the court where his brother Dinuka was playing. Thereafter Niluka had begun to cheer in a loud voice standing just beside the court.

Chandrika de Silva told ‘Daily Mirror’ that Niluka was shouting at the top of his voice and was casting remarks at her (Chandrika). Thereafter, his brother Dinuka and partner went on to win the match 23/21.

“Soon after the match was over and even before we could shake hands with the opponents or even before the umpires could get off the chairs Niluka was inside the court shouting, hooting and used bad language on me,” added Chandrika.

“After that I asked him why he was saying bad thinks about me, and my younger brother heard him using bad language on me. When my brother confronted Niluka to calm him down, he and his two brothers began attacking my brother and my elder brothers too were forced to get involved,” said Chandrika.

As the tournament was continued the next day and as Niluka Karunaratne is employed at the Air Force, the Air Force gave him security for the rest of the tournament.

Incidentally, Chandrika de Silva has been the country’s women’s singles champion on several occasions.

Niluka Karunaratne is the current men’s singles champion and both of them represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi early this month.

Niluka Karunaratne was not available for comment.

(www.dailymirror.lk)

Sahan to represent sri Lanka at Wong Cup Festival

Sahan Sachinda Rathnayake, joins the Sri Lankan badminton team leaving for South Korea tomorrow to represent Sri Lanka at the 12 day ‘Wongu Cup 2010’ international sports festival which is held to promote peace and friendship among youth in different parts of the world.

Sahan started his badminton at St. Anne’s College. Kurunegala when he was in the sixth standard. Recognizing the talents and performances, Sahan was called to Joseph Vass College, Wennappuwa by Indika Sheevan who was then the school’s badminton coach. During this period Sahan had won several Provincial and Open Badminton titles under the age categories of 15 and 17.

Witnessing the performances shown by him in a schools open tournament played in Wennappuwa, Luvi Karunaratne who was a senior Official in SLBA at that time gave Sahan an opportunity to attend National Badminton Junior Pool practices. This opened up the path for Sahan to be selected to Ananda College, Colombo.

During 2008 and 2009 Sahan performed very well and especially so far in the year 2010 Sahan was very successful delivering many outstanding results in badminton. Some of the key achievements are as follows:

• Represented Sri Lanka at the World Junior Badminton Championship held in April 2010 in Guadalajara, Mexico with Three other players: Dilshan, Minimuthu and Malinaka
• Champion of the under 19 boys singles event in the all island age group badminton championship organized by the University of Moratuwa in July 2010
• Champion of under 19 boys singles and doubles (partnerered by Malinka Ranasinghe) events in the All Island Open Badminton Championship organized by SSC in August 2010
• Champion of the under 19 boys singles and doubles (partnerered by Dilshan Kariyawasam) events in the Badminton Junior Nationals Championship-2010, organized by Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Association.

Sahan is the only son of Capt (Rtd.) Jayantha Ratnayake who too has excelled at sports. Furthermore Sahan is the grandson of former Capt. Nihal Nilaweera who had a brilliant career in sports at S. Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia in the mid sixties.

(www.dailymirror.lk)

Vishaka badminton champs

Vishaka Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo emerged champs at the all-island Badminton tournament held recently. Oshadi Kuruppu who also has overseas exposure leads her side. She has

reperesneted Sri lanka at several tournaments abroad. Oshadi showcased her talents at last year’s Asian Juniors too.

“I am glad that we were able to bag the all-island trophy this year. Credit should go to all our team members who played with dedication and commitment. Among them are key players like Achini Rathnasiri, Ameesha Dias, Kavisha Narangoda, Nilupuli Liyanage, Kavindya Perera and Thisuri Fernando. In the finals we had to face another talented team from Sirimavo Balika. Though we expected some resistance from Ambalangoda Dharmasoka, we were able to trounce them in the semi finals,” said Oshadi.(www.dailymirror.lk)

Shuttle double for Thilini

S M Jiffrey Abdeen, - Kandy Sports Correspondent

Former Olympic shuttler and National Champion Thilini Jayasinghe put up a sparkling display to win a double at the Central Province Open Badminton Championship organized by the Sri Lanka Badminton Association and the Central Province Badminton Association and concluded at St Anthony’s College courts, Katugastota yesterday night.

Thilini Jayasinghe displaying excellent court craft with bemusing placings to fox former women’s National Champion of many years Chandrika de Silva and won the first set 21-19 then cruised to a 21-15 win in the second set.

She later won the mixed doubles title partnered by Hasitha Chanaka to beat Lasitha Menaka and Nadeesha Gayathri 21-16, 16-21 and 21-19 to complete the double.

The men’s singles finals turned out to be a non-starter as No 1 seeded Diluka Karunaratne conceded a walk over to No 2 seeded Lasitha Menaka on grounds of a leg injury. But the President of the SLBA Roshan Gunawardena said that Diluka Karunaratne did not make use of the medical facilities made available by the Sports Ministry to obtain a medical report and an investigation will be conducted on this matter as they are not satisfied with what has happened.

Lasitha Chanaka also completed the double by winning the men’s singles and men’s doubles partnered by Manjula Fernando beat H S Perera and A C Fernando 16-21, 21-13 and 21-13.

Sports Minister C B Ratnayake was the chief guest and he distributed the awards with Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake and CPBA President Mahinda Kumara.

Results of the finals

Men’s singles final: Lasitha Menaka recieved walk over from Diluka Karunaratne.

Women’s singles: Thilini Jayasinghe beat Chandrika de Silva 21-19, 21-15.

Men’s doubles: Lasitha Chanaka and Manjula Fernando beat H S Perera and A C Fernando 16-21, 21-13, 21-13.

Mixed doubles: Thilini Jayasinghe and Hasitha Chanaka beat Lasitha Menaka and Nadeesha Gayathri 21-16, 16-21, 21-19. Under-12 girls: Rashmindi Kotigala beat Thushani Hewa 21-2, 21-3.

Under-12 boys: M A Tennakoon beat M R F Shaadher 21-17, 16-21, 21-12.

Under-15 boys: Krishan Danushka beat Wiswa Karangoda 21-19, 21-19.

Under-15 girls: Gayathri Herath beat Lihini Wijesinghe 21-16, 21-14.

Under-17 girls: Maneesha Fonseka beat Ayesha de Silva 21-17, 21-9.

Under-17 boys: Rakhitha Perera beat P K Hettiarachchi 21-16, 21-19.

Women’s doubles: Achini Ratnasiri and Upuli Samanthika beat Chandrika de Silva and Lekha Shehani 21-19, 16-21, 21-15.

(www.dailynews.lk)

Meets Chandrika in Central Province Open final:

Thilini ousts Achini in women's open semi final

by S. M. Jiffrey ABDEEN Kandy Sports Corr.

Tilini Jayasinghe

Former Olympic game shuttler and No. 3 seeded Tilini Jayasinghe created an upset when she beat the No. 1 seeded Achini Ratnasiri in a three setter to enter the finals of the womens singles on the second day of the Central Province Open Badminton Championship organised by the Sri Lanka Badminton Association and Worked off at St. Anthony's College Courts, Kandy yesterday.

Thilini lost the first set 17/21 but bounced back to win the next two sets 21/11 and 21/17 in a courageous fight back. Thilini will now meet former national champions Chandrika de Silva in the finals of the womens singles.

Most of the seeded players won their matches in this ranking tournament. The finals will be played this afternoon. The Chief Minister of Central Province Sarath Ekanayake will be the chief guest.

RESULTS:

Semi-final men's singles: Diluka Karunaratne beat A.C. Fernando 21/15, 21/5.

Lasitha Menaka beat Hasith Chanaka 21/16, 21/7.

Women's single: Thilini Jayasinghe beat Achini Ratnasiri 17/21, 21/11, 21/17.

Chandrika de Silva beat Lekah Shehani 5/21, 21/9, 24/22.

Under-12 girls: Thushari Herath beat N.C. Jayasundera 21/15, 15/21, 22/20.

Rasmindi Kotigala beat D.M. Thanthriwatte 21/7, 21/7.

Under-12 boys: M.A. Tennakoon beat D. Stouter 21/16, 21/14. M. R. F. Sadeer beat K. D. Gunawardena 21/12, 21/14.

Under-15 boys: Chrishan Dhanushka beat S. Wijesekera 21/18, 21/14.

Wishwa Karangoda beat K.U. Gurusinghe 21/13, 21/18.

Under-15 girls: H. Gayathri beat Samadhi Ratnayake 21/9, 21/7.

Lihini Wijesinghe beat Diminigi Kotigala 21/16, 13/21, 21/15.

Under-17 girls: Maneesha Fonseka receives walk over from C. Liyanage Ayesha de Silva beat Yasmitha Weddamulla 21/18, 18/21, 21/17.

Under-17 boys: Rakhitha Perera beat D.T. Ratnayake 21/14, 21/19.

P.K. Hettiarachchi beat C. Nugaliyadde 21/17, 18/21, 21/17.

(www.sundayobserver.lk)

Sri Lanka Badminton Association

Sri Lanka Badminton Association

http://www.badminton.lk/

All Ananda final set for today

Rakitha Perera and Sahan Ratnayake came through their two semifinal boys under 19 matches at the Junior National Badminton Championships, held at the Sri Lankan Badminton Association courts yesterday, to set up an all Ananda College final.

Perera was clinical in his destruction of L. Dixon from D.S Senanayake, calmly dismantling him in straight sets 21-14, 21-9. Dixon stood no chance against the faster Perera, who executed his strokes with deadly accuracy, picking out the corners of the court with great ease.

Rakitha Perera from Ananda College made it into the Under 19 Boys’ Finals. (Pic by Ranjith Perera)

As the final set progressed it looked highly unlikely that Dixon would stage any comeback into the match as he seemed to have nothing left in the tank and eventually inevitably conceded the match.
The other semifinal between Sahan Ratnayake and C. Minimuthu proved to be a more closely contested affair. After a one sided first set, which Sahan took 21-13, Minimuthu stormed back to make things interesting, smashing the ball in to the corner to give him the second set 21-16. In the decisive third set Ratnayake took hold of proceedings and shut out the match 21-11.

The under 17 boys singles also provided another fierce battle between two evenly matched opponents, when Harindu Hettiarachchi from Royal took on Vibavi Madushan from Alethea International School.

Hettiarachchi played the first set very calmly, working his man around the court before emphatically smashing the shuttlecock past the helpless Madushan. A few minutes into the first set and Hettiaratchi had raced to a 17-12 lead. Afterwards Madushan won only one more point before Hettiaratchi raced to clinch the first set 21-13.

Madushan then composed himself and surged back into the match during the second set. Eventually things were tied at nine games all but Madushan then roared to life quite literally, working the shuttle around brilliantly before deftly sneaking it over the net and letting out a loud shout when he took the set 21-15.

The third set was an even battle and both boys pulled off impressive points, but eventually Madushan held on to secure the set 21-17 and book a place in the finals. He will meet Omal Vishwanath from S. Thomas’ College who enjoyed a straightforward 21-13, 21-10 victory over Damith Yatawara from D.S Senanayake.

The Boys and Girl’s Singles and Doubles finals for each age group will be played today at S. Thomas’ College starting in the morning.

www.sundaytimes.lk

අද ලෝකය බොහෝ දියුණුය. එහි එක් ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස අන්තර්ජාලය මිනිසාට සේවය කරමින් මිනිස් අවශ්‍යතා කඩිනම් හා පහසු කර දී ඇත.
විදේශීය ක්‍රීඩකයින්,ක්‍රීඩා බළදාරීන් අන්තර්ජාලයේහි ඇති දත්ත තමාගේ දියුණුව,වර්දනය සදහා වැඩි වැඩියෙන් යොදා ගනී.
එහෙත් අප රටේ ක්‍රීඩකයින්,ක්‍රීඩා බළදාරීන් හෝ වගකිව යුත්තන් අන්තර්ජාලයෙන් වැඩක් ගන්නවාද යන්න සැක සහිතය. එයට හේතුව ඔවූන් එය පරිශීලණයට නොදැනීමද නැතහොත් එහි ඇති අගේ නොදැනීමද නොදනිමි.
කෙසේ නමුත් අප ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට,විදේශීය ක්‍රීඩකයින් සමග උරෙන් උර ගැටෙමින් අප මව්බිමට ජය ගෙනෙන්නට නම් නව තාක්ෂණය හා නව ක්‍රමවේද අප ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට ඉගැන්විය යුතුය. නැත හොත් ඔලිම්පික් මෙඩලයක් කෙසේ වෙතත් සාෆ් මෙඩලයක් වත් ඉදිරියේදී දිනා ගැනීම සිහිනයකී.
අප ක්‍රීඩකයින්,ක්‍රීඩා බළදාරීන් අන්තර්ජාලය වෙත ගෙන ඒමට හා ඔවූන්ට අන්තර්ජාලයෙහි ඇති තොරතුරු පහසුවෙන් පරිශීලණය කිරීමටත් හුරු කිරීම මෙම වෙබ් අඩවිය තුලින් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමි.
ඒ සදහා සහය,අදහස් හා යෝජනා සදහා සකල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවාසී ඔබ සැමට ඉතා ගෞරවයෙන් යුක්තව කරන ආරාධනයයි මේ..............

Quarter-finalists found in boys under 19 singles

The quarter finalists were found in the boys under 19 singles category at the Junior National Badminton Championship conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Association at the SLBA Indoor Courts at Maitland Place yesterday.

Under 19 boys singles. Pre-quarter finals.

M.Chinthaka (Devananda, Ambalangoda) beat Shanon Fernando (St. Peter’s) 7-21, 21-19, 18-21. Sahan Ratnayake (Ananda) beat Piyumal Somathileka (Royal) 11-21, 13-21. I.U. Gurusinghe (Dharmaraja) beat Didula Sahabandu (St. Joseph’s) 16-21, 21-12, 2-0, W/O. Chinthaka Minimuthu (Alethia Int.) beat Marlon Fernando (St. Joseph’s) 21-5, 21-5. Shamika Nugaliadda (St. Anthony’s(K)) beat Lahiru Madusanka (Dharmasoka) 21-16, 21-12. Dixon Lionsmith (DSSC) beat Pasindu Wickrematileka (Kegalu MV) 15-21, 4-21), M.S. Ranasinghe (S. Thomas’) beat Dulshan Gunaratne (Nalanda) 21-13, 21-14. Rakitha Perera (Ananda) beat N.A. Gunatileka (Royal) 21-13, 21-12.

Quarter finals line up for today.

M. Chinthaka (Sri Devananda) vs Sahan Ratnayake (Ananda). I.U. Gurusinghe (Dharmaraja) vs Chinthaka Minimuthu (Alethia IS). Shamika Nugaliadde (St. Anthony’s) vs Dixon Lionsmith (DSSC). M.S. Ranasinghe (S. Thomas’) vs Rakitha Perera (Ananda).

The championship will continue today at the D S Senanayake College, Musaeus College and S Thomas’ indoor courts.

(www.dailynews.lk)