31st Senior National Squash Championships kicks off tomorrow

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Category: squash

Published on Sunday, 18 December 2011 13:39

Written by Eranga Alwis

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The most looked forward to and the final tournament conducted by The Sri Lanka Squash Federation for this year; Senior National Squash Championships will be held from the 19th to the 22nd of December at the Sri Lanka Air force Squash Complex in Rathmalana. This tournament marks the end of a hectic Squash season where five National Ranking Squash Championships were held in a span of four months including the Junior National Squash Championships.

Mens Open event will be toughly contested with current National Champion Navin Samarasinghe trying to defend his title and make way for seven National titles and for a consecutive fourth win. At the same time thirteen times National Champion and runner up at the last edition of the Senior Nationals Saman Thilakaratne would be eyeing to make an upset win over Navin to clinch the Championship for at least one last time. Both Navin and Saman share a wealth of International exposure representing Sri Lanka at Asian Senior Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games and even captaining and leading the National Squash team towards a Bronze medal at the previous South Asian Games.

However with more and more juniors coming into play and proving their metal, seniors will be made to sweat in the court if they are to remain on top amidst stiff opposition. With two junior National titles and a Bronze medal at the South Asian Games under his name Gihan Suwaris will be next in line for the title. Gihan who has represented Sri Lanka in both junior and senior National teams will definitely give all the top players a hard time in the court. Eranga Alwis with two Bronze medals at the South Asian Games and three Junior National titles under his belt would also try to cut loose. Yasir Issadeen another top player who has represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Senior Squash Championships and Commonwealth Games will also use his experience to stay on top.

All attention will be on the two upcoming players Ravindu Laksiri and Dilshan Gunawardena who had already made their mark in the Mens Open Category. Both Ravindu and Dilshan qualified for the semi final stage at the recently concluded SSC Open Squash Championships and Dilshan proved his ability to take up any challenge when he stretched both Navin and Saman into five setters in the previous tournaments. Ravindu, the current top junior player has represented Sri Lanka at Asian Junior Squash Championships and is yet to make his debut in the Senior National team while Dilshan has already represented Sri Lanka at the World Squash Cup and Asian Junior Squash Championships.

With the absence of Nirasha Guruge and Tehani Guruge among whom they share seven National titles, Sharya  Guruge will be the top seed while last year Runners up Nadindi Udangawa will be the bottom seed for the Womens Open event. Both Sharya and Nadindi would be eyeing to clinch the title as they were not able to do so in the previous editions. Sharya Guruge who has won the Junior National title on two occasions and represented Sri Lanka at Asian Junior and Senior Squash Championships was also a part of the team that represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games held in India.

Meanwhile Nadindi too has represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Junior and Senior Squash Championships and is the current Junior National Champion.

Yet again all eyes will be on upcoming star player Mihiliya Methsarani who is capable of providing stiff opposition to all the top senior players. This would be her first appearance in a Senior National Squash Championship and the 13 year old Bud will definitely try to clinch the title, already having dragged top seed Sharya Guruge into a tight five setter at the SSC Open Squash Championships. Dulakshi Elikawela and Mandakini Gunasekara are the other top two players and would use their experience to face any challenge posed.

The tournament will be worked under seven different categories and they are

• Mens Open
• Womens Open
• Mens over 35
• Mens over 45
• Mens over 50
• Mens Novices
• Womens Novices

 

Men's / Women's Past National Champions

Year	MEN		WOMEN
1981	Oliver Guruge		Arlene Thanaraj
1982	Mohammed Ramzi		Sheela Artygalle
1983	Oliver Guruge		Sheela Artigalle
1984	Oliver Guruge		Niloufer Philips
1985	Ramesh De Silva		Niloufer Philips Arasakumar
1986	Gihan Fernando		Niloufer Philips Arasakumar
1987	Gihan Fernando		Niloufer Philips Arasakumar
1988	Gihan Fernando		Padmini Samarainghe
1989	Gihan Fernando		Niloufer Philips Arasakumar
1990	Saman Thilakarathne		Niloufer Philips Arasakumar
1991	Saman Thilakarathne		Disna Ranjani
1992	Saman Thilakarathne		Yasmin Zarook
1993	Gihan Fernando		Yasmin Zarook
1994	Saman Thilakarathne		Yasmin Zarook
1995	Saman Thilakarathne		Shivanthi perera
1996	Saman Thilakarathne		Yasmin Zarook
1997	Gihan Fernando		Yasmin Zarook
1998	Saman Thilakarathne		Yasmin Zarook
1999	Navin Samarasinghe		Yasmin Zarook
2000	Navin Samarasinghe		Yasmin Zarook
2001	Saman Thilakarathne		Kushani Daluwaththa
2002	Saman Thilakarathne		Kushani Daluwaththa
2003	Saman Thilakarathne		Nirasha Guruge
2004	Saman Thilakarathne		Nirasha Guruge
2005	Navin Samarasinghe		Nirasha Guruge
2006	Saman Tilekeratne		Nirasha Guruge
2007	Saman Tilekeratne		Nirasha Guruge
2008	Navin Samarasinghe		Damindi Udangawa
2009	Navin Samarasinghe		Nirasha Guruge
2010 Navin Samarasinghe		Tehani Guruge

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