Int’l Masters Badminton C’ship at Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, Nov. 26-28
View(s):
From left: Clarence Homer - CMBA Secretary, Rohan de Silva - CMBA President, Ajith Wijeysekara - Tournament Director, Sajeewa Wijeysekara Tournament Referee and Trevor Reckerman - Deputy Tournament Director at the press conference
Over 100 overseas players are among the 300 Shuttlers who will compete at the inaugural International Masters Badminton Championship at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium from November 26-28. The matches will be played from 10 am-10 pm.
The foreign Shuttlers will be from India, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Macau, Nepal, New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia. This is a golden opportunity for the yesteryear Shuttlers to participate in an international event.
The championship will be conducted in the age groups of 35+, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+ 65+, 70+ and 75+. The matches are conducted to Badminton World Federation (BWF) standards and the organisers have made additional efforts to increase the standard by deploying online entry facilitation and online updates which will be a new experience to Sri Lankan Badminton lovers.
A prize money of US$ 7,500 will be at stake for the winners. The significant feature is that several past national players in the calibre of Niroshan Wijekoon, Duminda Jayakody, Ranjini Senivirathne, Kaushalya Dissanayake and Sriyani Deepika along with others who have won the age categories of National Badminton tournaments, vying for honours. This mega event has received BWF recognition and will continue to be a regular feature in the Badminton calendar. Organisers have confirmed that the event will be held annually in Sri Lanka and BWF will add the event to their list of calendar events when published. Age Group events with lesser number of entries will be played on a Round Robin basis and other groups with higher number of entries will be played on a Knockout basis.
Draw for the tournament of 294 matches to be played on 8 courts will be held on November 20 at the McLarens office complex.