Unbeaten Southern Stars shine as favourites

Li Ning – Lanka Shuttle Challenge

by Reemus Fernando

Southern Stars led by Sachin Dias advanced to the semi finals as favourites by keeping their unbeaten tag intact on day three of the inaugural Li Ning – Lanka Shuttle Challenge in Colombo on Friday.

Southern Stars won all their five ties to collect five points and were the only unbeaten team in the tournament. Western Warriors captained by Kavidi Sirimannage was the only team to pose a serious threat to the Southern Stars as they almost beat them in their tie on Thursday. Southern Stars had a slender two point lead over the Warriors to retain their unbeaten status.

The second placed Warriors, who won four out of the five ties, Central Crusaders and Island Titans were the other teams to advance to the semi finals which will be played today.

According to the semi-final draw Southern Stars are set to meet Western Warriors in the first match while Central Crusaders encounter Island Titans. The winners of the first semi final (between the top two teams) will advance to the final. The looser will meet the winner of the second match between Central Crusaders and Island Titans for a place in the final on Sunday.

The first two matches will be played simultaneously at the Sri Lanka Badminton Association and Mercantile Badminton Association courts starting at 9.00am.

Central Crusaders skippered by Buwaneka Gunetileke collected three points after recording victories against Eastern Eagles, Northern Knights and Island Titans. In their last tie yesterday, they beat Island Titans 5-2 and had an aggregate of 273 against 214 collected by the Titans. However despite yesterday’s defeat, Titans led by Dinuka Karunaratne secured a deserving place in the semis. Dinuka, in his only match yesterday, paired Nadeesha in the mixed doubles to beat Buwaneka and Hasara.

However, his brother and Tokyo Olympic hopeful Niluka had to bow out from the tournament without reaching the business end as the Northern Knights were placed fifth after securing just a solitary tie win. In a competition between brothers on Thursday, Niluka won the singles for Northern Knights but Titans won the tie.