Initially, Niluka went in with great expectation of making it past the first round, knowing his opponent Chen Long’s abilities. However, Niluka’s lack of experience resulted in favour of of Chen who comprehensively defeated him, dominating from the start.

Knowing his fate, Niluka certainly did want to make a difference by bagging a win in the second game. He certainly did make it past the Polish opponent who battled it out until the end.

“I thought I could’ve done better against Chen Long (in the first match). I’ve had really hard training. Even the World champion has to start at zero. He came up with different strategies to break my momentum from time to time. It has been a great experience and I’m thankful to be here in Brazil,” said Niluka Karunaratne.

The match got off to a surprisingly delayed start, which is rare in Olympic completion, as the previous matches of the scheduled court had taken a longer duration. Karunaratne, Sri Lanka’s undisputed men’s single champion on 14 occasions could not offer much in the first set as London Olympics bronze medallist Chen had an easy 21-7 victory in 19 minutes.

But Karunaratne fought back early in the second set and the scores were tied five-all at one stage.

But Chen, the two-time world champion who is among the top ranked badminton players in the world, used all his experience to cut loose and go past Karunaratne 21-10 in 21 at the end. “It was a tough hurdle and I tried my best against a world class champion.

But I hope to do perform better in the next match,” he told the media after the match.

Karunaratne will now meet Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in his second group ‘P’ match to be worked off on Friday at 7.30 pm local time (4 am SL time on Saturday).

The Lankan national champion’s last group match will be against Adrian Dziolko of Poland, ranked 58th in the world. It will be played on Sunday at 3.55 pm local time (12.25 am SL time on Monday).

Defending men’s singles badminton champion Lin Dan of China needed just 34 minutes to cleat his first hurdle today. He launched his triple Olympic crown campaign in style, crushing David Obernosterer of Austria in straight sets 21-5, 21-11 in their group ‘E’ first round match.

Karunaratne, who competed at the last 2012 Olympic Games, has been drawn in group ‘P’ in the men’s singles first round. Besides Karunaratne, the other shuttlers drawn in Group ‘P’ are Long Chen of China, Kevin Cordon of Guatemala and Adrian Dziolko of Poland.

Fourteen-time Sri Lanka national champion Karunaratne will play his first group match against China’s Long Chen at Riocentro Pavilion Four on Thursday at10.10 am local time (6.40 pm SL time). It will be the toughest of the three group matches for Karnaratne as he comes across the men’s singles bronze medallist of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Lankan lad’s second match in Group ‘P’ will be against Guatemalan Cordon on Friday at 7.30 pm local time (4 am SL time on Saturday).

Karunaratne’s last of the three Group matches will be against Polish Dziolko, scheduled for Sunday at 3.55 pm local time (12.25 am SL time on Monday). Dziolko, ranked 58th in the world, has been a member of the Polish senior badminton team since 2009.

“It is a tough contest but I will try my best to spring a surprise or two,” a determined Karunarane said on the eve of his first game. “I am glad to make it to my second successive Olympics and have been training hard. Irrespective of the ranking of my opponents, I will battle it out until the last minute. I am ready to face the challenge,” Karunaratne said.

Dato Lee Chong Wei can be proud of his achievement in Paris. After months of painful moments, the former world #1 finally climbed the men’s singles draw to tightly clutch the trophy in Paris.

“I haven’t had good results for the past seven months. This is my first Superseries title of the year, though I still have the China and Hong Kong open where I wish to play better and get one more Superseries title,” confessed Lee Chong Wei after this match.

The multiple Superseries winner – who is now in the hunt for the 40th such title in his career – didn’t have to force his talent against an obviously tired Chou Tien Chen, dominating outrageously the first game. “After the results I had in Korea Japan and Denmark, I just came here to play. I didn’t think about winning or losing but just tried my best on every shot,” added the Malaysian.

After an easy first game, Lee Chong Wei built up another huge lead in the second, only to find that Chou Tien Chen was much a more complex opponent than expected. The defending champion slowly came back to nearly level terms with the Malaysian at 17-18.

“I lost focus in the second game. I wanted to win and this lead me to making mistakes,” said Lee. However, the experienced Malaysian still raced towards victory and sealed his match 21-18.

“I love it here, I love the crowd, they’ve been very supportive, I really hope to come next year and try my best. This win is giving me confidence for the rest of the year,” concluded the superstar from Malaysia.

The Kandy Sussex won the total championship by gathering 96 points.

Sussex College, Gampaha have obtained their special championship as follows.

Under 11 boys championship by Master Dinura Senarathne

Under 13 boys championship by Master Kokila Navanjana Pathirana

Under 17 girls championship by Miss Tharushi Perera

Under 15 boys runners up by Master Kavishka Manthilaka

Under 17 girls runner up by Miss Sathma Vithana

Under 11 boys dual championship by Sandeep Guruge and Dinura Senarathne

Unde4 17 girls dual championship by Miss Sathma Vithana and Tharushi Perera. Under 15 girls dual runners up by Miss Daniya Panditharathne and Hashara Wikramasurendra.

Under 11 boys single the prior fitness for semi-final by Sandeep Guruge

Under 13 girls dual game the prior fitness for the semi final by Aloka Perera and Menuri Thisera.

The college coach of the Badminton C.M.D. Janaka, Mrs. Rose Fernando the Principal and Lionel Peiris the P.T. Instructor are here in the photograph with the college winners.

The decision came as SLBA’s constitution did not comply with the sports’ world governing body, BWF.

SLBA faced a June 30 deadline to revise few points in the first draft of its constitution and to hold the election of new office bearers for the 2015-2016 year before June 30, in order to retain its international membership.

“BWF very hopes that the promised revisions to the Sri Lanka Sports Law will be presented as promised latest by June 30, 2015 and that this means that a process can be initiated to get the governance structures around badminton in Sri Lanka brought up to date. If this does not happen, then BWF however sees no other option than to suspend the SLBA until an acceptable governance structure is established,” said Lund in his letter sent to SLBA in June.

The annual office bearer’s election of SLBA which has already has been postponed six times due to several issues before SLBA administration was taken under the wing of Director General of the Department of Sports Development, K.D.S. Ruwanchandra.

The Sports Ministry had earlier stated that its under-consideration Sports Regulation, that needs amendments, has reached its final stages. The Director General for Ministry of Sports, K.D.S. Ruwanchandra had stated that the New Sports Regulation introduced by former Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage, to replace the Sports Law Act No.23 of 1973, would come out very soon, comprehensively altered.

Over the past few months, pressure kept on mounting on a number of local sports governing bodies and few of them had received warnings by their respective global bodies.

However, following the suspension, Sri Lankan shuttlers will not be given any opportunity to take part in international competitions.

Vidura College Nawala recorded one of the biggest achievements in its short sporting history when their under 19 girls team became ‘A’ Division Champions of the Badminton Team Championship conducted by Sri Lanka School’s Badminton Association.

Vidura girls beat the much fancied team of Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda in the final. In the semi-final Vidura beat Musaeus College before recording a historic win against Dharmasoka.

Vidura College has almost won all the badminton tournament played from Division E up to Division B in boys and girls categories.

The Victorious Vidura girls team led by Eshani Palihena, Hasara C. Wijerathne, Ayanagee Dasanayake, Chathuni C. Wijesekara and Oshini Hasarangi. The Team was coached by Nimmika Tissera. The school has arranged a special felicitation ceremony for the winning girls’ team according to Manager Sports Upali De Silva.