The Nationalised Services Badminton Association (NSBA) Open Level One Ranking Badminton Tournament will commence at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium tomorrow sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom.
The tournament has attracted over1200 Shuttlers inclusive of juniors from the age groups of under-11 to under-19 as disclosed to the media by the Vice President of the SLBA Parakrama Basnayake at a press briefing held at Eighty Club in Colombo on Thursday.
He said the Sri Lanka Badminton Association has given the green light to the NSBA to conduct this mega event which is the biggest in the badminton calendar for the year 2019.
President of the SLBA Rohan de Silva addressing the media said: “NSBA is keen in developing the game of badminton on a large scale by conducting many competitions for member firms to compete.
“These kinds of tournaments play a major role in promoting the standards of the players to reach greater heights and also for the development of the game. Players are the most important part of the sport and they can be considered as the kings on the court. That is the reason why the SLBA wants to support all up-and-coming players by way granting the needed facilities while arranging training sessions whenever possible.” De Silva said the present badminton administration took steps to renovate the Complex at SLB headquarters at Maitland Place where the entire lighting system was redone and entire floor was redone to meet international standards.
Players’ accommodation and other facilities were also upgraded at a cost of Rs. 15 million.
“As a result of this we have an international standard Bbdminton Ccmplex now. At present the SLBA has the services of two foreign coaches and we xpect to bring in two more coaches from Indonesia. With the help of these coaches the Association was able to send our Shuttlers for three international tournaments.
These Shuttlers came up with good performances to win and also got the opportunity to gain experience to play against internationally famed Shuttlers”, said de Silva.
The two coaches are expected to arrive in the island next week and take charge of the players along with present coaches.
Events are conducted under two main categories, Open and Schools. Matches in the Open category will be held under Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, Over-35 Men’s Singles, Over-40 Men’s and Women’s Veterans Singles/Doubles, Over-50 Masters Singles/Doubles and Over-60 Masters Singles/Doubles.
The Schools category Singles and Doubles matches will be conducted for boys and girls under-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. The under 11 and 13 players will not be considered for Rankings.
Sanjeewa Wijesekara will be the chief referee of the tournament and Samantha Navaratne his deputy.