The Li-Ning Sydney International Badminton Series 2016 took place from 14th to 17th September at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Hall in New South Wales Australia. Representing Sri Lanka, four of our players competed at the tournament; Ishadika Kavidi, Buwaneka Goonethileka, Sachin Dias and Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa.
The tournament was part of the ranking process coming under the Badminton World Federation (BWF). On the first day (14) of the Women’s Singles (WS) qualifications match, Ishadika who holds a world ranking of 560th place, scored high against Australian opponent, Victoria He and secured two successful rallies of 21-12 and 21-15.
The next face-off for the Sri Lankan shuttlers was the Mixed Doubles (XD) qualification match played, where Sachin and Thilini were set to compete against William Hardjono from Indonesia and Zecily Fing from Australia. This first XD round proved successful for the duo as well having overthrown their opponents with scores of 21-6 and 21-10.
But, the second round of XD for the duo did not end well as they were defeated by their Korean adversaries, Jung Young Keun and Kim Na Young. The first rally was positive for the Sri Lankan duo with a score of 17-21 but it went downhill from there with scores of 21-12 and 21-17.
The next XD match encompassed of Buwaneka and Ishadika competing against Korean shuttlers Park Keon Nam and Park Su Hyun and the Sri Lankan duo won the round with a line-up of the scores 21-14 and 21-16.
Thilini Hendahewa’s Women’s Singles qualification round was unsuccessful as she was defeated by her Japanese opponent Shiori Saito. The initial match’s scores came down to 21-14 and 21-10 against Thilini.
Moving forward in the Women’s Singles Ishadika Kavindi had to make her exit in the next tie as she faced defeat to Manlin Yang of China. The final results read 21-13, 15-21 and 21-13.
Later on, Sachin played and scored high against Australian seed, Anthony Joe but lost in the end. A breakdown of those scores was shown as 21-16, 15-21 and 21-17 in favor of the Australian. Following ten minutes later, was Buwaneka Goonetileka who competed against Chinese Taipei seed Chun-Wei Chenalso faced defeat on the same day losing out with scores reading 21-17 and 21-17.
Thilini and Ishadika’s WD round did not culminate well for the day as they were defeated by Chinese opponents Wu Qianqian and seed player Xia Chunyu, who got the better of the Sri Lankan female players with scores of 21-19 and 21-18. The first day’s final match for the Sri Lankan Men’s Doubles competitors culminated with Sachin and Buwaneka who played against and defeated their Australia opponents How Keat Oon and Jacob Schueler with scores of 21-11 and 21-15.
Sachin and Buwaneka commenced the Men’s Doubles playing against Cham Chen and Shinan Liu from Australia, scoring a total of 42 points compared to the Aussie players total of 18. A breakdown of the scores came to 21-10 and 21-8. Only Sachin and Buwaneka were the remaining players to continue till Day 3 of the tournament. Sachin competed against Chinese seed Gao Xiangfu who got the better of Sachin by a total of 8 points. Ultimately, the scores were lined up as 17-21, 21-19 and 21-10.
The final Mens’ Doubles match for the Sri Lankans was played by Sachin and Buwaneka, who competed against Korean shuttlers Kim Dong Hun and Lee Soon Chul. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan duo did not win the match and were short of 8 points. The scores breakdown of the Koreans against the Sri Lankans is as follows: 14-21, 21-17 and 21-10.
