Sri Lankan shuttlers finished group champions when they beat Ireland 3-2 in the classification round match of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament played at Guangxi Sports Centre in Nanning, China. It was a fine come back for Sri Lanka after losing first two matches, Mixed Doubles and Men’s Singles.
Ireland won both the matches but Kavidi Sirimannage became the player of the day by winning Women’s Single to turn the game over Sri Lanka ‘s favour. She also won the decisive Women’s doubles game along with Thilini Hendahewa to seal the victory. Hendahewa and Sirimannage produced a superb display to win the three sets game. The Sri Lankan pair won the first set without much effort 21-15 but they fought a close battle for the second set where the Irish pair won by 24-22.
However, in the third set Hendahewa and Sirimannage produced a superb display once again to finish the game 21-17 and winning the Group 3 champions after a hard fought battle.
Earlier, Sri Lankan mixed doubles pair Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa stated the game and fought well against the Ireland pair Sam Magee and Chole Magee. Dias and Hendahewa won the first set 22-20 but the Irish pair took the control of the game well to win the second and the third sets 21-16,21-17 and won the game.
However, experienced Sri Lankan shuttler Dinuka Karunaratna was left disappointed after losing his singles game to Nhat Nguyen of a higher rank with straight sets 12-21,18-21 where Ireland got off to a good start and won both matches to lead 2-0.
However, Kavidi Sirimannage made a strong come back in the Women’s Single winning two straight sets against Kate Frost to 21-12, 21-7 to secure the first victory for the Sri Lankan side. Sri Lankan men’s doubles pair Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Gunatilleka once again made a superb effort in the game to beat Ireland’s Sam Magee and Nhat Naguyen 2-1. Dias and Gunatilleka lost their first set 17-21 but they fought back strongly and won both second and third sets 21-16, 21-11 to level the Game 2 all.
Earlier Canada defeated France 3-1 to emerge in the Group 2 champions in the classification round match. Meanwhile, China defeated Denmark 3-1 while Thailand made a 3-1 win in the quarterfinals. China and Thailand will meet in the semi-final on Saturday. In the second semi-final, Indonesia will battle against Japan. Japan defeated Malaysia 3-0 in the quarterfinals while Indonesia had a tough fight to beat Chinese Taipei 3-2 to qualify for the semi-finals on Friday.
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