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A BRIEF HISTORY OF BADMINTON IN SRI LANKA
Like many other games, Badminton was also introduced to "Ceylon" by the advent of British well over 100 years ago. Its on record that the first Badminton Club was formed in 1909 in "Dimbulla " by the British plantation Community in the general area of the hill country Dimbulla Club has been conducting Badminton tournaments regularly at Inter Club and Individual basis, during the early part of the 20th century. However it was in 1950 that "Badminton Association of Ceylon" was formed and first Senior National Men & Women Championships were conducted in the year 1953 and continues regularly without any interruptions. From 1950 up to about 1970, however, the game at competition level was confined to a few clubs and a handful of Schools mainly in Colombo barring one or two outstation schools.
An important milestone was achieved in the latter part of 1970, when the "Schools Badminton Association of Ceylon' was formed by the legendary "Ariyadasa Silva" of Ambalangoda. With this move, with the Schools Association conducting its first ever " Junior Nationals in June 1971 saw a huge participation amongst the school children from all parts of the Island.
Today, the Badminton Association could boast over 5000 children taking part at the Junior Nationals (2004), from over 150 Schools, which is arguably the singular largest tournament in Sri Lanka, vis-à-vis participation. It has 20 active District Associations and arrangements are being made to popularize the game in an organized manner in the other Districts as well.
Source: http://www.srilankabadminton.org
First Sri Lankan Woman to Qualify From the Sport for Olympic Games
Badminton player Thilini Jayasinghe has become the first Sri Lankan woman to qualify from the sport for Olympic Games. She is 23-year old and attended to Mahamaya Girls' School in Kandy. Thilini was selected on performances at 10 international meets where she ranked 45th from a total of 48 contestants who will represent their respective countries at the Beijing Games in August.
