18-year-old Hasini Ambalangodage got her Youth Olympic Games journey in Buenos Aires to a solid start, registering a win in her 1st match in Argentina.
The youngster, who was one half of the pair that reached the quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Games – Women’s Doubles event in Gold Coast, Australia, earlier this year, came into the Youth Games with plenty of experience under her belt.
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The know-how came in handy in her first match as she overcame Abigail Jimenez of the Dominican Republic in quick time, needing just 20 minutes to finish off her 1st game in the group stages. The scores read 14/21, 16/21 in favour of the Sri Lankan as she won the game in straight sets.
The youngster was brought back to earth in the next match however as she faced a straight set defeat at the hands of Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand. The match ended 21/5, 21/12 in favour of the Thai shuttler.
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Ambalangodage also took part in the Relay Team Group Play Stage, representing team MIX Alpha, which is a mixed international team that consists of players from all over the world.
The Sri Lankan lost her singles encounter against Malaysian Jin Wei Goh but partners American shuttler Jennie Gai to overcome Team MIX Epsilon’s Nazlican Izci (Turkey) and Aminat Ilori (Nigeria) on day one of competition.
Day 2 saw her face two losses, both in her singles match against Elena Andreu of Spain and her doubles encounter against Team Delta’s Elena Andreu (Spain) and Phittayaporn Chaiwan (Thailand).
Ambalangodage will have a final group stage game later tonight, where she will face off against Aminat Ilori of Nigeria.
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