Sri Lanka Badminton Association (SBA) recently declared that they are honored to host the Yonex – Sunrise Sri Lanka International Challenge 2014, from the 04th of June to 08th June at Sugathadasa Indoor Staduim, Colombo.
This BWF (Badminton World Federation) and BAC (Badminton Asia Confederation) sanctioned tournament with the sponsorship of Yonex – Sunrise will be the first ever International BWF World Ranking tournament to be held in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Badminton Association, an affiliated member of the BWF which has a total of 176 members with more than 250 million active participants, has successfully obtained the chance to host this gigantic competition with the ability of attracting more than 10 countries to battle it out with each other.
The participating countries of the tournament are, Austria, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, USA. This tournament will be opened for players to battle in all forms, namely, Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles & the winners will be offered USD 15,000 aggregately.
Suraj Dandeniya, President of the Sri Lanka Badminton Association, stated that, though we have confronted many unsubstantiated criticism, we have not deviated from our genuine efforts to uplift the game for which we are responsible. Since the inception of the tenure of the present administration, we have been able to bring about an impetus to the game, be it the Competitions, Players or Coaches. Yonex – Sunrise Sri Lanka International Challenge is timely and testimony to the progress the sport is enjoying today”, he also thanked his committee and sponsors and most importantly he stated that, “I must thank the sports minister Honorable Mahindanada Aluthgamage for keeping confidence in us and giving us the continuous guidance and assistance”.
Sri Lanka Badminton Association believes that the exposure gained by the players, coaches and umpires in the local and international levels has helped them to conquer the major achievements including four Sri Lankan Junior players to be ranked among the first fifty in BWF Single World Junior Rankings and our own twosome, Sachin Dias & Buwaneka Gunathillaka to be ranked ninth in BWF Men’s Doubles World Junior Rankings respectively.
Development of infrastructure, increase of prize money, well planned training with the proficiency of foreign coaches, and the motivation to the players, coaches, umpires & administrative staff has given a great opportunity to host such international events and almost 60 players will tackle the challenge of playing their hearts out in front of their home crowd while the fans of Sri Lankan Badminton is complementary in witnessing the first ever Yonex – Sunrise Sri Lanka International Challenge 2014.
Sri Lanka Badminton Association also believes that the success of hosting this tournament will be able to mark it as an annual event in the Badminton calendar with the aim of achieving grand prix acknowledgment in near future. Mr. Ajith Wijayasinghe, internationally recognized match referee, plays a vital role as the Tournament Director.
ThePapare.com, as official web partner invites the Badminton fraternity of Sri Lanka to witness the atmosphere of a 5 day Badminton carnival at the Yonex – Sunrise Sri Lanka International Challenge 2014.
