Sri Lanka badminton player Viren Nettasinghe produced a fine display to win the gold medal at the Bangladesh International Challenge Badminton tournament in Dhaka yesterday.
Nettasinghe, the 20 year old Olympian won in two straight sets 21-12, 21-17 over Canadian opponent Xiaodong Sheng in the Singles final which lasted 40 minutes.
Nettasinghe went in as fourth seed against Sheng who was third seed.
Earlier at the men’s Open semi final Nettasinghe beat top seed Le Duc Phat from Vietnam 21-7, 21-12 with the game lasting 27 minutes. Nettasinghe and Le Duc performed at the last Paris Olympics in July.
Meanwhile the Sri Lankan women’s doubles pair of Isuri Attanayake and Sithumi de Silva had to be satisfied with the bronze medal after they lost to Malaysia’s Kodchaporn Chaichana and Pannawee Polyiam 8-21, 8-21.
More than 230 players from 24 countries took part in the tournament conducted by the Bangladesh Badminton Federation and sanctioned by Badminton World Federation.
Nettasinghe’ s achievement puts him on course to compete for a place at the 2028 Olympics.
