Navin and Sharya crowned Senior National Squash Champs

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Category: squash

Published on Saturday, 24 December 2011 17:04

Written by Eranga Alwis

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Navin Samarasinghe and Sharya Guruge clinched the Mens and Womens Senior National Squash titles after being stretched to tight five setters by their opponents in the finals of the 31st Senior National Squash Championships worked off at the Air Force Squash Complex -Rathmalana .

Defending National Champion and holder of six National Championships, Navin Samarasinghe had to battle out against thirteen times National Champion Saman Thilakarathne in the final for the title .Navin qualified for the final beating Ravindu Laksiri 3/1 in the semi finals while Saman paved through to finals having the better of Dilshan Gunawardena in straight sets in the other semi final. However Navin had a nightmare when Saman went on to win the first two sets 11/8 and 11/6.Though Navin lead 6/3 and 7/5 in the first set Saman was not to be outclassed and went on to take the first set ,with some of his deceptive winner shots. Saman continued his form and took the second set after a lot of hard work and long rallies adding more pressure on to Navin. With just a set to be won for Saman to take the National title which he had been trying to take under his name for the past three years, the game became even tougher with Saman trying to finish things off quickly while Navin played a defensive game looking for a loop hole. However Saman kept the lead till the very end at times leading 8/5,9/7 and even 10/9 with just a point to take the title.

But Navin on this day proved what kind of a tough player he is, truly showing that giving up is not an option for him and sprung back from the roots to take the third set 12/10 after a lot of hard work put into play .From there onwards Navin played a well controlled game moving Saman up and down the court, tiring him and waiting for a loose ball to score. Navin scored most of the points with his front court winners and went on to take the last two sets 11/6 and 11/4 and with it the Senior National Squash Championship for the overall seventh and for the fourth consecutive year.
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The Womens Open final was played between last years runners up Nadindi Udangawa and current top seed Sharya Guruge with both struggling hard for a win as both have not tasted victory in this caliber. Sharya beat Mihiiliya Methsarani 3/1 while Nadindi outclassed Dulakshi Elikawela in straight sets in the semi finals to qualify for the finals. Sharya put up a fine display in the first set to take it quite easily with the scores on 11/2 .Sharya went on to lead 7/3 and 9-5 in the second set but relaxed too much and made a lot of unforced errors giving the Nadhindi the much needed points to break the lead and take the second set 11/9.The game seemed to be shifting in different ways as both the players could not keep their consistency. Sharya took the third set quite easily 11/1 while Nadindi took the fourth 11/4 to tally the set scores. However Sharya had the last laugh taking the final set 11/7 and with it her first ever Senior National Squash title.

The tournament was conducted by the Sri Lanka Squash Federation despite a heavy tournament calendar where five National ranking tournaments were held in a short span of four months. The Championship was sponsored by Neat Solutions and co sponsored by Wimal Engineering Pvt Ltd with the winners and the runners up of the Mens and Womens Open events walking away with LKR 30,000 and LKR 20,000 each respectively. The occasion was graced by former Presidents of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation Wing Commander Noel Fernando, Commander Hiran Fernando, Air Vice Marshal Bren Soza and Mr Oliver Guruge while the prizes at the awards ceremony were distributed by the Chief Guest ,The Secretary to the Ministry of Sports-Mr Udaya Seneviratne.

Final results

Mens Open Final-Navin Samarasingh beat Saman Thilakarthne 8/11 ,6/11, 12/10, 11/6, 11/4
Womes Open Final -Sharya Guruge beat Nadindi Udangawa 11/2, 9/11, 11/1, 4/11, 11/7
Mens Open Novices Final I E Tennakoon beat S M J Samarakoon-11/5, 11/7, 11/8
Womens Open Novice Final -Anusha Damayanthi beat H A Dilshani-11/6, 10/12, 11/5, 13/11
Mens over 35 Final-Saman Thilakartne beat Priyantha Wijetunga-11/6, 11/5, 11/9
Mens over 45 Final-Mohomed Rizwan beat R S Deen-11/7 ,11/6, 11/7
Mens over 50 Champ-Mohomed Azmi

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