Gihan Suwaris, the third seed in the Men’s open event beat top seed Dilshan Gunawardena to clinch the Men’s open title at the SLAF open squash championship.
Top seed in the women’s open category Mihiliya Methsarani beat bottom seed Naduni Gunawardena to clinch Women’s open title.
The Women’s open final was almost an one sided affair where Mihiliya took the upper hand in the first two games. However, Naduni changed course in the last game and dragged the game to a tie breaker though her effort was not enough to stop Mihiliya from winning the third set Mihilya went on to win the match in straight sets and the scores read 11/8,11/3, and 14/12.
Mihiliya repeated the same performance in the Girl’s under -19 final when she beat Naduni Gunawardena in straight sets.
In the Men’s open final top seed Dilshan Gunawardena was tactfully handled and brought down by much experienced third seed Gihan Suwaris.Gihan who kept attacking on the weak points of Dilshan and the latter could not do much about it but to play a defensive game. Gihan continued his dominance in the front court, chopping down any half court shot. His extra slow drop shots and smooth volley shots proved vital in winning the first two sets. However the party did not last long for Gihan as he started making too many unforced errors paving way for Dilshan to take the third set. The fourth set saw Dilshan giving up most of the rallies and putting up only a small effort to retrieve front court winner. Gihan had little trouble in winning the last set and went on to win the match with the final scores on 11/8,11/9.3/11 and 11/6.
In the Boy’s under 19 final Ravindu Laksiri who took Gihan Suwaris for a hectic five setter in the mens open semi final, beat Udantha Hewage in straight sets with the final score on 11/3,11/4,11/0.
Senindu Induwara Dharmathilaka qualified for the finals of the Boy’s u-17 and u-15 events and went on to win the u-15 final overcoming Druwinka Perera after losing to Shamil Wakil in the u-17 final.
In the boys u-13 final Raveen Nanayakkara, the recipient of the most promising and upcoming squash player award at the Junior Nationals, beat Methmal Wood in a four setter.
Wasundara Suwaris grabbed the Girl’s u-17 title overcoming Raisha Deen straight sets. The Suwaris family went on to clinch a trio when Janaka Suwaris a former national squash player and father of Gihan and Wasundara went on to grab the Men’s over 45 title.
Kasuni Gunawardena and Sameera Deen clinched the Girl’s u-15 and u-13 titles when they beat Sanduni Gunawardena and Dewmini Gallage respectively.
In the senior events Malith Methsiri grabbed the Men’s plate championship while Lal Wickramasinghe clinched the Men’s over 35 event overcoming Wijetunga. Former National player Mohamed Ramzi clinched the Men’s over 50 event when he best Air Commodore Ajith Abesekara in the final
