Sri Lanka to battle with Young blood at 17th Asian Senior Team Squash Championships

Sri Lankan Senior National Squash team took wing to Hong Kong to participate in the 17th Asian Squash Championships to be held from 11th to 15th June at the Hong Kong Squash Centre. The Women’s event will be represented by 10 teams while 16 teams will participate in the Men’s event.

The Sri Lankan Mens team will be represented by Ravindu Laksiri, Dilshan Gunawardena and Shamil Wakeel. Gihan Suwaris who was initially included in the final team had to be left out unfortunately as he was suffering from Dengue. He was diagnosed with  Dengue only on the day before the departure, leaving officials no room to add any player to the team in replacement. However since the team events are to be played as best of three matches, the team will not be penalized although the players will be deprived of rest as all three players will have to play all the matches.

Interestingly the Men’s team consists of two present students and one old boy of D. S Senanayake College. Ravindu Laksiri, who holds both Junior and Senior National Championships currently and Dilshan Gunawardena will be the most experienced while Shamil Wakeel will be making his debut to the Senior National team.

Ravindu who maintained his dominance in the local arena throughout the year also did well to clinch the 5th place at the Youth Asian Games held last year. Ravindu counts his experience representing Sri Lanka at Asian junior championships, and Asian senior championships. Dilshan who has been a frequent finalist in the domestic arena throughout the year also counts a lot of international exposure having represented Sri Lanka at Asian junior championships, Asian senior championships and World open squash championships. Shamil being a debutant has represented Sri Lanka at Asian junior championships and even won a Bronze medal.

The Mens team will have to battle out with Malaysia, Japan and Iraq in the league stage initially to qualify for the ranking play-off matches.

The national Women’s team will be represented by Mihiliya Methsarani, Naduni Gunawardena, Nadindi Udangawa and Fathoum Issadeen. The team comprise of three  school children namely Mihiliya Methsarani from Sirmavao Balika Vidyalaya,Naduni Gunawardena from Visaka Vidyalaya and Fathoum Issadeen from Holy Family Convent.

Many hopes are on Mihiliya Mehsarani who is the holder of both the junior and senior national championships. Mihiliya has performed really well winning two Bronze medals at the Asian junior championships and Asian youth games respectively .Naduni and Nadindi have represented Sri Lanka at Asian junior championships and Asian senior championships while Fathoum counts her experience on representing Sri Lanka at Asian junior championships.

The Women’s team will have to battle out with Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Iraq in the league stage.

Women’s Team Event

Men’s Team Event