Sri Lanka settles with two bronze medals at Bahrain Series II
Sri Lanka settled in with two bronze medals at the second installment of the Bahrain International Series 2024 at the BKS Club in Manama on Saturday, as Women’s Singles player Ranithma Liyanage and Men’s Doubles pair Siyath Senaratne and Dinura Rashmika Priyankara accounted for the country’s only honours at the six-day competition by Badminton Asia.
Ranithma, who bagged the silver medal in the Women’s Singles at the first installment of Bahrain International Series 2024 last weekend, continued her good form in the second edition by reaching the quarter-finals. But her hopes of reaching the final was comprehensively thwarted by Japan’s Shiori Ebihara, who forced the succumbing of Ranithma, the second seed in Women’s Singles of the competition, in straight sets. Shiori was given a stiff competition by Ranithma in the first set, but the Japanese shuttler claimed a 21/13 win, which was followed by a 21/9 win in the following set, to reach the final. In the quarter-final, Ranithma recorded a straight win against UAE’s Mysha Omer Khan.
Men’s Doubles pair Siyath Senaratne and Dinura Rashmika Priyankara claimed Sri Lanka’s second bronze medal after reaching the semi-finals, where their progress was stalled by Alvin Morada and Christian Bernardo of the Philippines. The Sri Lankan duo was outdone by the Philippines’ pair, who recorded set wins of 21/14 and 21/9.
They defeated Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin and Makhsut Tajibullayev 2-1 after an early setback. Isuri Attanayake and Sithumi de Silva, who claimed the Women’s Doubles bronze medal in the first instalment, lost to Mysha Omer Khan and Taabia Khan in the quarter-final clash in straight sets.
Women’s Singles player Rashmi Mudalige was forced out of the competition early after losing her Round of 16 clash while Men’s Singles players Aashinsa Herath and Reshan Dumbukkuwalage also failed to go beyond the Round of 32.