Ranithma pockets Women’s Singles silver medal at Welsh International Open 2025
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Sri Lanka’s national Women’s Singles champion Ranithma Liyanage delivered one of the finest performances of her young career after claiming the silver medal at the Welsh International Open 2025 held at the Sport Wales National Centre in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. The world No.113 shuttler, who is sponsored by McLarens Group, put together four straight wins before narrowly missing out on the title in a gripping three-game final.
Ranithma opened her campaign with a commanding 21-8, 21-11 victory over Natalia Slobodova of Slovakia. She followed up with a hard-earned win in the Round of 16, rallying from a game down to beat Sweden’s Cecilia Wang 21-23, 21-13 and 21-19.
She stayed in control during the quarter-final, defeating England’s Freya Redfearn 24-22, 21-15 after holding firm in a tight first game. Ranithma then booked her place in the final with another composed performance, overcoming Denmark’s Athene Lyduch Thornild 21-17, 21-15 in the semi-finals.
The final saw her face Austria’s Wei Xu in a closely contested battle. Ranithma lost the opening set 16-21 but responded strongly with a dominant 21-10 win to force a decider. The third set went point for point before Xu edged ahead late to claim the title 21-19, leaving Ranithma as the Women’s Singles runner-up.
Recently, Ranithma reached an important milestone in her career after reaching the quarter-final stage at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships held in Guwahati, India, where made a fine start before falling to BWF 40 ranked Liu Si Ya of China in the important qualifier.
The 18-year-old shuttler from Baddegama, a town closer to tourist city of Hikkaduwa in the Southern Province, is a proud product of Christ Church Girls School in Baddegama. She started off by playing against her brothers at home, and then improved rapidly after her teacher Ms. Mallika identified her inborn talent and brought the budding then shuttler under the wings of coach Pavithra Abegunasiriwardena. After training with her first coach, Ranithma trained under Subash Janaka, who was in-charge of coaching the national pool shuhttlers from the Southern Province. With proper training, commitment and impressive outcomes to follow Ranithma was drafted into the top 10 of Sri Lanka and has been representing Sri Lanka at international events.