The university of Sri Jayewardenepura has a thriving community of badminton players who has performed well in the past years. With the winning spirit of SLUG overall badminton championship, they continue with full effort into endless practices for the upcoming tournaments. Over the last few years, the achievements of our shuttlers are simply outstanding and they were able to bring several trophies to J\’pura i.e. 2019 SLUG Overall Championship, 2018 Inter University Games overall Championship, 2018 Inter University Games Men\’s Runners up, 2018 Inter University Games Women\’s Champion, 2017 Inter University Games Overall Championship, Battlefield 2020 University Badminton Championship, UMISF 2019 Men\’s Championship and it\’s just a glimpse of their achievements. Among them, the 2019 SLUG Overall Championship was a victorious moment in their path and here it\’s the time to appreciate the players who made it possible. Vinod Payagala and his deputy Janindu Iddagoda lead the men\’s badminton squad and Kavindi Sirimanna and the deputy, Lakhini Sashibhani lead the women\’s squad and definitely it consisted of some determined players. Their team spirit and endless effort have indeed been paid off.
Our Shuttlers have even emerged as winners in international platform. In 2017, Chinthaka Maniwelamada, Thilini Hendahewa, Kavindi Sirimanna and Lakhini Sashibhani participated in the 29th Summer University Games which was held in China Thapei. In 2018, Kavindi Sirimanna, Thilini Hendahewa, Lakhini Sashibhani, Malith Thennakoon and Ramel Kirthirathna participated in the FISU world University Badminton championship which was held in Malaysia. Also Kavindi Sirimanna, Thilini Hendahewa and Hasara wijethunga even participated in South Asian Games 2019 which was held in Nepal. Currently, our shuttlers are preparing for IGU 2020 with such determination under the captaincy of Janindu Iddagoda and Lakhini Sashibhani to bring the winning trophy to J\’pura.
Badminton is one of the fastest sports in the world and it\’s a great way to improve one\’s body flexibility, coordination and even one\’s mental alertness. So without just limiting to achieve goals, our shuttlers have even tended to organize tournaments in order to bring more opportunities to players around the country to showcase their hidden talents. SMASHES and Inter Faculty Novice Badminton Championship were the end result of their attempt.
The guidance to play a clean game and motivation to play hard is given by none other than their coach, Mr. Chinthaka Maniwelamada, Mrs. Nishanthi(the director of sports USJ), Mr. Dilshan Priyadarshana(team instructor)
\”Success is not always about greatness. It\’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success\”, as a wise man ones said, our shuttlers practice hard with a positive mentality for IGU 2020 and undoubtedly they will bring glory to Mother J\’pura. It just requires a lot of determination and passion and luckily our shuttlers have what they need to shine by the end of the day. Go J\’pura!
Written by: Theekshana Rathnayake.
Graphic designed by : Jithmi Rajapaksha