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Sri Lanka, October 23 — Ranithma Liyanage, the top women’s badminton player from Sri Lanka, ended her participation in the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships held in Guwahati, India, last week. She made it to the quarterfinals, marking the best performance by a Sri Lankan junior player in the history of the competition.

In the quarterfinals, Ranithma was defeated by Chinese player Liu Si Ya, who is ranked 118th globally. The 18-year-old from Christ Church College, Baddegama, competed in a two-set match that lasted 24 minutes but ultimately lost with scores of 9-15 and 6-15. Although she suffered a defeat, her journey to the quarterfinals highlighted her talent and gave her important confidence for the future.

Previously, Ranithma beat Hong Kong’s Sum Yau (15-6, 15-10) and Malaysia’s Ler Qi Eng (15-9, 15-12) in the Round of 32. In the pre-quarterfinal, she defeated Indian world-ranked Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj (15-11, 15-9) to qualify for the quarterfinals.

The Sri Lankan Badminton association has regularly backed Ranithma, with former president Rohan de Silva offering financial support for her goals at the Olympics.

Ranithma is now focused on enhancing her global ranking as she prepares for the Olympics. In the history of badminton in Sri Lanka, Thilini Jayasinghe is the sole female player to have participated in two consecutive Olympic Games, while male players Niroshan Wijekoon, Niluka Karunaratne (who has competed three times), and 22-year-old Viren Nettasinghe have also taken part in the Olympics representing Sri Lanka.