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Even though Achini Nimeshika Ratnasiri is a tiny tot, her performance during the Junior National Badminton Championship wasn’t as small as her age. She won three events while becoming the most impressive female player during the three-day Championship
Achini, who is only 14 years old, is among the top three players in the country. Olympic representative Thilini Jayasinghe and Chandrika de Silva are placed first and second respectively while Achini, who is still in the early days of her career, is placed third.
Achini, who could be a prospect of Sri Lanka’s future badminton, believes she can bring honour to mother Lanka in future through the sport of badminton when ‘Sunday Island - Sportstar’ interviewed her recently.
Beginning
She began explaining how she started her badminton career:
"I started my career in the year 2002 by an accident. I can still remember that day. There were some "Akkies" involved in playing badminton. I took a racket from them and played. The teacher-in-charge of badminton at that time, Erasha de Silva, saw me and realised my talent and asked me to take part in school badminton tournaments from there onwards.
Achini, who studies at Lindsay Girls School, Bambalapitiya, has represented Sri Lanka on several overseas championships. She found her golden moment when she took part in the Youth Commonwealth Games recently.
Apart from playing badminton, she is a member of the school debate team, netball team and the athletic team. She loves reading.
She thanked all her coaches, Sirmal Aponsu, Chintaka Fernando and national coach Pradeep Welagedara, her parents and her elder sister.
Meet Udara Nayanajith
Udara Nayanajith is another young talent coming from rural areas in the island. At the moment, he is studying at Royal College, Colombo, owing to his badminton skills shown over the past years.
Nayanajith, who started his career at Anuradhapura Central College, exhibited his talents in grand style as he also won three events in the Junior National Championships, worked off at the Royal Sports Complex, recently.
The youngster won the Under-19 Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles completing an excellent outing.
He beat R.S. Kasun of Western Province, two sets to nil before winning the two other events.
Teaming up with T. Fernando in the Boys’ Doubles, he defeated S. Gunawardena and Kasun two sets to one and beat the combination of Kasun and Gayani Perera convincingly in the Mixed Doubles. Nayanajith shared his Mixed Doubles victory with his partner Achini Ratnasiri winning it two sets to nil.
Nayanajith, 19, who is ranked sixth in the island now, added saying: "My main aim is to bring glory to Sri Lanka in the future but practising here in the island itself will not be sufficient due to the lack of facilities. So, some overseas training will help me achieve my main target."
