Sri Lankan shuttlers excelled by winning 10 gold and 12 silver medals as the inaugural Ceylon Masters International Badminton Tournament which came to a conclusion following three days of quality action at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, 28 November. The country’s first-ever international masters badminton event, organised by the Ceylon Masters Badminton Association (CMBA), saw 23 finals being conducted on the final day and the local stars featured in 17 of them. Masters players from India won six finals and the other wins were shared by China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Macau in different age classes. Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong - China and Taipei too fared well but were not able win any events and had to be content with silver medals in the men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories. Chandrika De Silva shines for hosts Former national champion Chandrika De Silva was the cynosure of all eyes as she displayed her class by winning a triple crown. [caption id="attachment_13812" align="alignnone" width="744"] Over-40 and 45 Women's Singles winners: Gold - Renu Chandrika, Silver - Vipuli Abeyesekara, both from SL, and Bronze - Deepali Joshi of India[/caption] Chandrika, teamed up with Kaushali Dissanayake in the women’s over 40 category, defeated compatriot Priyanka Abeyratne and her Indian partner Arati Patwardhna in straight sets. Chandrika and her Indonesian partner Muhammed defeated Indonesia’s Bayu Cahyono and Arti Patwardhna of India in straight sets to secure the Over-35 Mixed Doubles title and later outplayed Vipuli Abeysekera in the singles to make it a treble as the veteran star with an illustrious record added one more title to her international achievements. Janath Rohan Fernando too [caption id="attachment_13815" align="alignleft" width="294"] Janath Rohan Fernando[/caption] Janath Rohan Fernando won two gold medals, becoming the second most successful Sri Lankan contender on the final day. The number one seeded Janath won the Over-55 Men’s Singles title by outplaying Nepal’s Bishnu Lal Shrestha and later bagged won the doubles, teaming up with Indonesia’s Ertanto Kuriniawan. The duo overcame their Nepali counterparts Ramesh Bahadur Bhattachan, Shrestha in straight sets. Rohan De Silva a key A key figure behind the successful organising of the tournament, veteran player Rohan De Silva, partnered by Indonesia’s Frits Mainaky in the Over-65 Mixed Doubles, was stretched to the full three sets by Indian duo of Vijayakumar Krishnamoorthy and Sommasherappa before winning 2-1 (15-13, 15-8, 15-8). The tournament saw more than 270 local and foreign shuttlers vying for top honours and the podium winners in each category were awarded medals and certificates. The total prize money on bagged by the winners crossed $7,500. [caption id="attachment_13820" align="aligncenter" width="734"] Rohan De Silva, a key figure behind the successful organising of the tournament[/caption] The Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake was the chief guest at the awards ceremony. RESULTS OF THE FINALS Over-35 Men’s Doubles Muhammed/Amila Kumara Yatapana (INA/SRI)[1] beat C Niroshan Jude John/Hemantha Kodithuwakku (SRI)[2] 15-13, 15-9 Over-40 Men’s Singles Aneefa Aneesh Kannangayath (IND)[1] beat Fernando Manjula Sampath (SRI)[2] 15-13, 10-15, 15-10 Over-60 Men’s Singles Arnold Dendeng (INA)[1] beat Philip Bency (IND) 15-6, 15-5 Over-50 Mixed Doubles Naik K P Naidu, Suzanne Venglet (IND)[2] beat Ertanto Kuriniawan, W Sriyani Deepika Peiris (INA/SRI)[1] 15-8, 15-6 Over-55 Men’s Singles Janath Rohan Fernando (SRI)[1] beat Bishnu Lal Shrestha (NEP) 15-9, 13-15, 15-10 Over-40 Mixed Doubles Senthilvelan Kaliappan, Lavete Sunitha Raj (IND) beat Deepak Patwardhan, Deepali Joshi (IND)[1] 15-13, 16-14 Over-45 Mixed Doubles Marlev Mario Mainaky, Kaushali Dissanayake (INA/SRI)[1] beat Subash Janaka De Silva, Vipuli Abeysekara (SRI)[2] 15-7, 15-10 Over-35 Mixed Doubles [caption id="attachment_13819" align="alignleft" width="424"] Over-35 Men’s Singles: Muhammed of India (on right) beat Hemantha Kodithuwakku of SL in the finals [/caption] Muhammed, H Renu Chandrika De Silva (INA/SRI)[2] beat Sri Haritoko Bayu Cahyono, Arati Patwardhna (INA/IND)[1] 15-8, 15-13 Over-70 Men’s Doubles Kooinyean Chong, Yang Xiang Gu (MAS/CHN) beat Angus Husein, Bin Abdullah Dave (NZL/MAS)[1] 9-15, 15-11, 15-8 Over-40 Men’s Doubles Biju Mohan Babu, Aneefa Aneesh Kannangayath (IND)[1] beat Fernando Manjula Sampath, Clarance Homer (SRI)[2] 19-17, 15-10 Over-50 Men’s Doubles Naik K P Naidu, Maran Thangavelu (IND)[1] beat Dev Senthiya, Niroshan Wijekoon (NZL/SRI)[2] 15-13, 15-11 Over-60 Men’s Doubles Philip Bency, Kattapuram Oommen George (IND) beat Jeffrey Jamin Zee, Boon S Teoh (HKG/AUS) 15-11, 15-8 Over-45 Men's Singles Marlev Mario Mainaky (INA)[2] beat Ajith Upendra Jayawardena (SRI)[1] 15-2, 15-8 Over-65 Men’s Singles Luddy Budiman (INA) beat Yowsong Lim (MAS) 15-10, 15-12 Over-70 Men’s Singles Anthony Lourdes (AUS)[1] beat Bin Abdullah Dave (MAS)[2] 19-17, 10-15, 15-8 Over-60 and 65 XD Arnold Dendeng, Wijayalakshmi G Punchihewa (INA/SRI)[1] beat Jeffrey Jamin Zee, Irene Wood (HKG/AUS) 15-12, 15-9 Over-35 Men’s Singles Muhammed (INA)[1] beat Hemantha Kodithuwakku (SRI)[2] 15-6, 15-2 Over-50 Men’s Singles Niroshan Wijekoon (SRI)[1] beat Maran Thangavelu (IND)[2] 15-8, 15-4 [caption id="attachment_13821" align="aligncenter" width="728"] Commander of the SL, Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake was the chief guest at the awards ceremony[/caption] Over-50 and over 55 Women’s Singles W Sriyani Deepika Peiris (SRI)[1] beat Sangeetha Rajagopal (IND)[2] 15-13, 15-13 Over-65 Men’s Doubles Rohan De Silva, Frits Mainaky (SRI/INA)[1] Vijayakumar Krishnamoorthy, Sommashekarappa Puttaraj (IND)[2] 15-10, 14-16, 15-12 Over-55 Men’s Doubles Janath Rohan Fernando, Ertanto Kuriniawan (SRI/INA)[1] beat Ramesh Bahadur Bhattachan, Bishnu Lal Shrestha (NEP)[2] 15-10, 15-11 Over-45 Men’s Doubles Clarance Homer, Ajith Upendra Jayawardena (SRI)[1] beat Subash Janaka De Silva, Duminda Jayakodi (SRI)[2] 15-10, 15-10