Lanka to meet Ireland today in classification round

Sri Lanka will meet Ireland in their classification round match today at the 16th Sudirman Cup Badminton tournament which is in progress at Guangxi Sports Centre, Nanning, China.

The result of this match will decide the 21st place in the ranking of this tournament.

Ireland, ranked 21 competed in this tournament in Group 3A while 24th ranked Sri Lanka competed in Group 3B. Both teams ended with an unbeaten record to come on top of their respective groups.

Ireland defeated Australia and New Zealand 3-2 each after a tough contest while they recorded a whitewash against Nepal 5-0 to top Group 3A.

Sri Lanka defeated Slovakia 4-1, Lithuania 5-0 and in their last group match against higher ranked Switzerland 3-2 to top Group 3B.

Head coach Tony Wahyudi said the Sri Lankan shuttlers showed their fighting spirit in the Switzerland match, especially the women’s double pair Thilini Hendahewa and Kavidi Sirmannage who fought back strongly to win their match which went to three sets, the last two sets after the scores reached 20 all. He said this was a result of the intensive training sessions the two girls had in Sri Lanka.

“Experienced Dinuka Karunaratna will feature in the Men’s singles while Buwaneka Gunatilleka and Sachin Dias will battle in the Men’s double event. But we have not finalized who will play the women’s single match and it will be decided after training session Thursday evening. However all players have maintained their fitness to take on Ireland which is going to be big game today,” said Sri Lanka’s head coach Wahyudi.

“Irish players are also in very good form and we are not underestimating them, but we have a 50-50 chance to win this battle. So far Sri Lankans have really performed well and hope they can repeat that once again today,” he added.

Meanwhile top ranking countries China, Denmark, South Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan qualified to play in the quarter-finals of this tournament while semifinals are scheduled to be played on Saturday. The final will be held on Sunday.