Nettasinghe and Liyanage in quest to defend titles at 73rd Nationals
Star shuttlers Viren Nettasinghe and Ranithma Liyanage will be in action among over 1500 competitors lined up for the 73rd National Badminton Championship 2025 set to take place from December 17 to 24 at the S. Thomas’ College Indoor Sports Complex in Mt. Lavinia. Organised and conducted by Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB), the country’s core domestic badminton event will take place for seven consecutive days, with the participation of top ranked and leading shuttlers of the country.
The SLB officials stated that they are currently overwhelmed with the extraordinary enthusiasm among local shuttlers as the number of entries this year exceeded last year’s total count of 1254, a clear progress from 2023 edition’s tally of 1140. This year, the count has even goes beyond the tally of the two previous editions to 1525 entries as confirmed, which substantiates the gradual progress of the shuttle sport as a result of continuous development programmes conducted by SLB over the recent years.
The championships with a grand prize money of Rs.2 million, will feature a wide range of events from Under-11 to Under-19 in the Junior category and Over-30 to Over-70 in the Senior category, as well as the Combined age category of 100+, 110+ and 120+. The Open events comprising Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles will take centre stage.
At the 72nd National Badminton Championship 2024, Olympian Viren Nettasinghe and top seed women’s shuttler Ranithma Liyanage claimed double crowns, winning the Men’s Open Singles and Women’s Open Singles titles respectively. Viren and Ranithma paired up to complete a double crown by winning the Open Mixed Doubles title. Former national top ranked Buwaneka Goonathilake and Jason Homer emerged as the Open Men’s Doubles champions while the Open Women’s Doubles title was won by Varanjana Jayawardena and Rashmi Mudalige.
The opening ceremony will take place on December 17 with the preliminary rounds, leading up to the climax on December 19 with the Round of 16 and quarter-finals. The excitement will continue up to December 21, with the highly anticipated semi-finals and additional quarter-final and selected final matches. December 24 will see the completion of all finals, followed with the closing ceremony. The country’s top domestic badminton event, conducted in accordance to BWF regulations, is sponsored by McFoil, Mobil, Li Ning, 3M and GAC.