Dinuka Karunaratne the defending champion once again put up a good fight to enter the men,s open final when he defeated promising shuttler Buwaneka Gunathilleka with a hard fought three set win at the semi final played at the Royal College sport complex yesterday.
Buwaneka who beat experienced Niluka the elder brother of Dinuka was well placed during the first set at the semi final leading 21/7 at the first set but Buwaneka fought back strongly to beat Dinuka to level the match at 21/13.
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| Thilini Hendahewa |
However in the third set once again Buwaneka was leading 8/3 at one stage but experienced Dinuka used his full strength to defeat Buwaneka 21/18 in a hard fought final set to enter the final. In the other semi final Niluka,s younger brother Diluka played a three set game with Nalandian Ranthushka Sasindu. However finally Sasindu won the three setter 21-19, 21/23, 21/14 to enter the final. Diluka who is presently involved in full time coaching put up a good fight against young Ranthushka the bottom seed of this event. Today Dinuka Karunaratna is expected to retain the title but young Ranthushka should make a good impression at this final.
Meanwhile Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Gunathillleka the number one pair entered the men,s doubles final when they beat Sitila Liyanage and Pramal Weerasinghe in two sets 21/9 and 21/11 while in the other semi final Hasitha Chanaka and R.S Kasun won a three set game 21/19, 18/21, 21/17 over Osadha Madusanka and Lahiru Weerainghe to enter the final. Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa the top seed pair defeated Madusha Vibavi and Upuli Weerasinghe in two straight sets 21/11 and 21/14 to enter the mixed double final while Buwaneka partnered Kavidi Sirimannage to beat Thisal Yatawara and Oshindi Kuruppu easily in two sets 21/8 ,21/8 to enter the mixed double final today.
Meanwhile Thilini Hendahewa partnered Kavindi Sirimannage to beat Nadeesha Gayanthi and Ohadhi Kuruppu 21/16, 21/13 to enter the women,s double final while Achini Ratnasiri and Upul Weerasinghe defeated Yeheni Kuruppu and Aishwarya Ravichandran in straight two sets to enter the final.
Thilini Hendahewa the defending women,s single champion once again entered the final and she will meet bottom seed Kavindi Sirimannage who got a walk over from Dilmi Dias yesterday in the semi final Louie Karunaratne the father of Karunaratne brothers Niluka, Dinuka, Diluka and Chamika created a record by participating in the masters over 55 doubles event. Louie and Rohan Fernando will meet Lalith Nanayakkara and Suresh Thargarajah at the masters over 55 doubles final. All the finals will be played today from 9am onwards while the two important finals men,s and women,s open singles will commence from 3pm onwards.
Sports Minister Faiszer Mustapha will be the chief Guest today at the awards ceremony.
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