Despite regrets Buwaneka dreams of winning national singles title
Leading national badminton player Buwaneka Gunathilake is aiming to become national singles champion, having won the national men’s doubles title for three years.
He has been playing badminton since the age of 10 and has excelled at national and international level to emerge as one of the frontline players in the country.
Buwaneka clinched the national men’s double title for three consecutive years, in 2016, 2017 and 2018, partnering another rising young national badminton star Sachin Dias.
A silver medallist in the doubles at the Kathmandu South Asian Games (SAG), he was among the top eight doubles pair at the Jakarta Asian Games and created history at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games when he was in the doubles pairing that finished fourth in the men’s event.
An outstanding badminton player as a schoolboy winning many titles, Gunathilake emerged runner-up in the Men’s Singles at the Nationals in 2017 which has been his best placing at the tournament.
“I have three challenges to achieve in future.the first one is to become National men’s singles champion.
I am confident of achieving that somehow.the next objective is to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and winning a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games,” declared Gunathilake. Gunathilake hails from a badminton family. He represents Army Sports Club and is ranked number three in the country and 319 in the world rankings. He won the singles and doubles title in the National Sports Festival conducted by the Sports Ministry in 2016, 2018 and 2019 and was adjudged the Best Player twice.
“The biggest challenge at domestic level comes from the Karunaratne brothers, Niluka and Dinuka. But I feel I have the experience now to become national men’s singles champion in 2020 or 2021 and achieve my dream,” said Gunathilake.
The coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the economy and sports like badminton have struggled, with many sportsmen and women suffering job losses and losing sponsorships.
“I am 24 years old now. I dedicated myself more to badminton than education for the past 14 years. During that period, I have won many titles at national and international level with only the National men’s single title eluding me. However,
I have not gained any recognition or encouragement by any of these achievements. Honestly, now I regret having chosen to play badminton,” lamented Gunathilake.
Among his accomplishments at international level is qualifying for the Round of 32 at the Asian Championship in China (2017), making it to the semi-final of the Li Ning Sydney International in Australia (2017) in the singles and doubles, and reaching the final four of the doubles competition at the Tata International Championship in India (2016).
He was also part of the Group 3 champion team at the BWF Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast in 2017 and bagged three medals at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati, winning a silver in the Team event and bronze medals in the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles events.
Having represented Richmond College, Galle in badminton from Under 10 level, Gunathilake clinched his maiden title when he emerged under 11 singles champion at the Junior National Championship in
2006.