The badminton ranking tournament conducted by Sri Lanka Badminton Association will be held in Anuradhapura from August 20-25 at two venues, the Urban Council courts and Mike Cooke Indoor Badminton Stadium.
The newly appointed of SLBA Committee headed by its President Rohan de Silva has decided to conduct this Championship in the North Central Province with the intention of promoting the sport in the outstations. Considering this matter the tournament will feature the Junior group from age 11 to play and also there will be a Veterans tournament for the age group over 35 years according to the Vice President of SLBA Parakrama Basnayake addressing a press briefing in Colombo on Tuesday.
The juniors age Groups are classified under-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 boys and girls who will play singles and doubles while the Veterans play men and women singles, doubles and also mixed doubles. The age groups that will participate at this tournament are over 35 and 40, 50 and 60 plus.
Basnayake further added that the Association hopes to conduct two more tournaments of this nature in the Southern Province and Sabaragamuwa Province prior to the National Championships scheduled for mid November. He also said that according to the Education Ministry circular the two age groups under-11 and 13 will not be considered for Rankings while all other groups will be taken for rankings. This also will be the first ranking tournament organized by the new management which hopes to popularize the game to attract more young blood for the sport which is one sport that has won many international events.
When asked as to how many schools from the North Western Province are engaged in this sport, it was revealed that eight schools from Anuradhapura and two major schools from Polonnaruwa have taken to the sport.