• Niluka Karunaratne on his third consecutive Olympic appearance

Niluka Karunaratne is a Sri Lankan Olympic badminton player who competed at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016. He is currently regarded as the number one badminton player in Sri Lanka and is the country's most decorated badminton player with a record 21 medals to his name at international events, including nine gold medals. He also holds the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in five different continents. He reached his highest career singles’ ranking of 34 in June 2013, which is also the personal best ranking by a Sri Lankan badminton player. He has also emerged as national badminton champion for a record 17 times, the most by a Sri Lankan badminton player. Karunaratne was recently selected for the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo later this month. [caption id="attachment_149255" align="alignleft" width="366"] Niluka Karunaratne[/caption] Brunch had a chat with Karunaratne on his love for the sport, the upcoming Games, and more. Here’s what he shared. How did you discover your passion for the sport? I started playing badminton at the age of eight. My father was very influential in the badminton field and he was also my first coach – he is even now. My father was also a former national badminton player as well as a national coach. It was because of his guidance that I wanted to play badminton. Since 1993, I have won every competition of my age group, and then I became the youngest national champion at the age of 16. That’s how I took up the game. How did you feel when you were selected to participate in the Olympics once again? I have done it before in 2016 as well; I had an amazing experience and did really well. This will be my third time participating and it is very special because only a few athletes have the opportunity to represent their country at the Olympics for the third consecutive time. No badminton player in Sri Lanka has achieved this feat. This will be my last Olympics, and my prime objective is to sign off with a win and do my best to raise the bar high for the future of Sri Lanka badminton. What is your biggest motivation? My motivation has always been to represent my country. It has been like that since I was a child. As I mentioned before, my father was my biggest inspiration and motivation, and was a great influence on me. It has always been my passion to represent my country, and the moment I realised I had the talent to take up the game at a national level, I was really happy. I enjoyed every time I represented and played for my country. I have participated in a lot of international events and many international tournaments like the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, and the Olympics. My biggest motivation through all these competitions was my need to make my country proud. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced over the years? When you do sports, especially an individual event, there are a lot of challenges and obstacles you have to face through the years. There is a lot of pressure from the public and it is also a very strenuous task – you have to learn to handle yourself and stay calm at all times. The fact of the matter is that you still have the motivation and you still need to focus on yourself and the country and play for them. That is my main target. The moment you find the motivation and you have your priorities in order, then everything else falls aside. No matter how hard the situation gets, you have to find the courage to get up and move forward.  How are the preparations for the Olympics going? It’s going quite well. It was not easy at all; to be honest, it was very challenging with the Covid situation, and with our restrictions, but the whole world is facing the situation. So what we have to do is just accept it as it is. We have to be very safe and very disciplined, and very much in mode; focus is very important in these kinds of situations. So focus on yourself, focus on the game, and just use the atmosphere as much as possible and to prepare yourself for the game coming up. Do you have any plans for your future? Yes. I plan to officially retire from international badminton after competing at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021. But I do have other plans.