Niluka Karunaratne ( Sinhala: නිලූක කරුණාරත්න;

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

: நிலுக கருணாரத்ன) (born 13 February 1985) is a Sri Lankan

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player who has competed at the

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and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. His father Louie Karunaratne and brothers Dinuka Karunaratne,

Chamika Karunaratne Edirimuni Chamika Dinushan Perera Karunaratne (born 29 May 1996) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays all three formats as well as a national badminton player. He made his international debut for the Sri Lanka cricket team in Februa ...

(also a cricketer) and Diluka Karunaratne are also professional badminton players. He is currently regarded as the number one premiere badminton player in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka's most decorated badminton player with a record 21 medals to his name at international events including 9 gold medals. He also holds the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in five different continents. He reached his higher 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 record 17 times, the most by a Sri Lankan badminton player. Despite his achievements in the sport, he was also sidelined for disciplinary issues on few occasions.

Career

Karunaratne, born in the coastal area of Galle, received his primary and secondary education in Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda and

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a Single-sex education, selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academ ...

, where he won the Royal Crown in 2001. He took up badminton at the age of 8, having been introduced to the sport by his father, who was a national level badminton player. He became the youngest ever Sri Lankan national badminton champion at the age of 16 in 2001 after winning his maiden national title on debut appearance at the Sri Lankan Badminton Nationals. Karunaratne competed in five consecutives

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

from 2002 to 2018. At the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, he was knocked out of the men's singles in the round of 16 by

Srikanth Kidambi Srikanth Kidambi (born 7 February 1993) is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, Kidambi was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. and the Arjuna award in 2015. In 2021, he became the first Indian t ...

. He was also part of the Sri Lankan mixed badminton team, which was knocked out at the quarterfinal stage by England. Niluka Karunaratne

He won his first international badminton championship in 2011 after emerging victorious in the men's singles event at the

Puerto Rico International The Puerto Rico International is an open badminton tournament held in Puerto Rico, organized by the Badminton Pan Am and Puerto Rico Badminton Federation (Fepurba). The tournament has been an International Series level since 1995, then in 2009–20 ...

. He also set a record for winning most consecutive number of men's singles title at the Sri Lankan Badminton Nationals during 9 occasions from 2000 to 2009. As of July 2012, he was ranked 48th in the men's singles from the

BWF World Ranking The BWF World Ranking is the official ranking of the Badminton World Federation for badminton players who participate in tournaments sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. It is used to determine the qualification for the World Championships an ...

. In 2012, the Sri Lankan '' Daily News'' called him "Sri Lanka’s undisputed badminton champion". He was selected to captain the Sri Lankan contingent to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

in his debut Olympic appearance and was also the flagbearer for Sri Lanka during the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 30 July 2012, Karunaratne defeated world eighth-ranked

Kenichi Tago is a former badminton player from Japan. He is the son of former badminton player Yoshiko Yonekura. In 2010, he reached the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships. En route to the final he beat three seeded players including Ngu ...

of Japan 2–0. Karunaratne defeated Tago 21–18, 21–16 in 44 minutes at the

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500- ...

in the Olympic men's badminton singles Group C at the

. The

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quoted him as saying: "This is the biggest win in the history of Sri Lanka badminton".

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Parupalli Kashyap Parupalli Kashyap (born 8 September 1986) is an Indian badminton player. A former World No.6, he trains at Gopichand Badminton Academy. He was awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India in 2012. He created history by reaching the q ...

sent him out of the Games, in a closely fought pre-quarter match. Niluka Karunaratne signing autographs for fans (London 2012 Olympics).jpg, Karunaratne signing autographs for fans Niluka Karunaratne (London 2012 Olympics).jpg, Karunaratne at the London 2012 Olympics He made his second Summer Olympics appearance at the 2016 Summer Olympics representing Sri Lanka amid various difficulties as he was not eligible to compete in local and international badminton events due to the temporary ban on Sri Lankan Badminton Federation imposed by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine membe ...

in 2015. In January 2021, he was tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

along with his younger brother Chamika and Niluka was disbanded from the National Badminton Association. However, he pledged to participate in badminton competitions after recovering from COVID-19 and in February 2021, he along with his younger brother and national cricketer Chamika Karunaratne played in the first round encounters in the men's singles of the Sri Lankan Badminton Nationals 2020. He announced his retirement from competing in local events after claiming the national badminton title for the record seventeenth time in 2021. However, he continued to compete in foreign competition with the aim of qualifying for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

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. In May 2021, Niluka reached the semifinals of the 56th edition of the Portuguese International Badminton Championships but was eliminated from the semis after losing to Germany's Max Weisskirchen. He also qualified to represent Sri Lanka at the 2020 Summer Olympics after receiving tripartite commission quota from Badminton World Federation and it would also mark his third appearance at the Olympics and also went onto become the sixth Sri Lankan competitor to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. He will also become the first Sri Lankan badminton player to compete at three successive Olympics. He announced that he would officially retire from international badminton after competing at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July 2021. He was accompanied by his brother Dinuka Karunaratne as his partner in lead up to the 2020 Olympics. He also holds a position in the banking sector as a bank employee.

Controversies

During the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Niluka was controversially appointed as the captain of the seven member Sri Lankan contingent by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka during the multi-sport event despite having experienced Anuradha Cooray in the mix who already competed previously at an Olympic event in 2004. Anuradha claimed that he should have been appointed as the captain of Sri Lankan Olympic team instead of Niluka whom he termed as novice and Anuradha insisted that Niluka hasn't done anything exceptional prior to competing at the Olympics. However, Niluka disagreed regarding the comments made by Anuradha Cooray. In 2014, Sri Lanka Badminton Association took disciplinary action against Niluka for acting in an undisciplined manner during the selection trials prior to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2018, after losing the quarterfinal match against in the Badminton Nationals Buwanika Gunathilaka he had a brawl with a spectator who was seen cheering for Buwanika Gunathilaka during the match.

Achievements

South Asian Games

''Mixed doubles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (10 titles, 5 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

References

External links