Southern Stars meet Central Crusaders in Li Ning-Lanka Challenge final
Southern Stars will meet Central Crusaders in the grand finale of the inaugural Li NingLanka Shuttle Challenge 2020 at the Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) courts in Maitland Place today. The country’s first high-profile franchise- based badminton tournament will come to an end today after an exciting period of five days when Southern Stars, led by Sachin Dias will dish out their challenge on Central Crusaders, led by Buwaneka Gunatilleke.
Western Warriors, who were beaten by Southern Stars 4-2 in the semi-final reached the eliminator round to meet Central Crusaders and suffer the same defeat.
Organised by SLB, the fiveday event featured six franchises of 12 players, each team had to play five first round matches with the top three teams of the table eligible to play in the semi- finals. Southern Stars, Western Warriors, Central Crusaders and Island Titans qualified for the semi- final stage. The first semi- final was played between the top two sides, Stars and Warriors, where the winner qualified to the final and the loser getting a second chance to reach the final in an eliminator with the winner of the second semi-final. Southern Stars reached the final and Western Warriors had to meet the winner of the second qualifier, Central Crusaders, who beat Island Titans 4- 2. However Warriors suffered a 2-4 defeat at the hands of Crusaders, who reached the final to meet Stars.
The tournament is supported by the Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Health as SLB put together a robust protocol to adhere to health guidelines to ensure safety of players, officials and the spectators. Li Ning is the SLB Corporate as well as title sponsor of the tournament.