Sri Lanka have suffered a major blow ahead of the tour of South Africa with the team’s senior most player Angelo Mathews being ruled out with a right hamstring injury. Chairman of Selectors Ashantha de Mel confirmed to The Island that Mathews will be out for about four weeks but expected him to be fit for the home Test series against England.
Mathews, who captained Colombo Kings on Sunday’s semi-final clash against Galle Gladiators in the Lanka Premier League was in pain as he was bowling and he left the field.
The former captain has been plagued by a series of injuries in the last three years and missed lot of cricket.
Top seeds Luka Knese and Thehan Wijemanne advanced to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles, while Anika Seneviratne, the top seed in the women’s singles and her sister Alana gave walk overs to their opponents in the women’s singles of the Clay Court Nationals continued at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts on Tuesday.
In the women’s singles, Nelini Jayasuriya (bt. Vonara de Alwis 6-0, 6-1) and Savini Jayasuriya (bt. Arella de Zoysa 6-1, 6-0), Hasali Gajaba (bt. Tania Doloswala 6-2, 6-2), Sethmi Sumanaweera (bt. Zeenath Zihar 6-1, 6-1), Janali Manamperi (bt. Saajida Razick 7-5, 6-4) and Oneli Perera (bt. Dinethya Dharmaratne 6-4, 6-4) won their matches to reach the quarter-finals.
Niluka Karunaratne raises his hands in jubilation after defeating world number eight Kenichi Tago of Japan at the 2012 London Olympics. Sri Lanka Badminton says that Niluka Karunaratne is in contention to qualify and represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics. (File Pic RF)
All year long, most of the national athletes have been training without a goal in sight. As in most sports, Badminton too had its fair share of missed competitions, both local and international. A frustrating sojourn in fact for many players who remain frustrated with a cascade of cancelled tournaments all over the world. The Olympics now saved for August 2021 would rekindle some hope and for Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB), Niluka Karunaratne remains in contention to qualify and represent the country in Tokyo.