Badminton at Wesley – A walk down Memory Lane.Ajith Wijayasinghe

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Badminton was introduced to Wesley in the 1950’s during Principal Cedrick Oorloff’s time. Considering the fact that the Badminton Association of Ceylon was also founded in 1950,Wesley could be considered one of the pioneers to have adopted the sport. A keen and dedicated group comprising Rohan and Nimal Wijesinghe, the Seneviratne brothers Ranjith and Sene started playing at the back of the collage hall, which is the earliest available record. Ranjith was also the senior prefect of the collage at that time.
The interest in the game was enhanced during Principal Mr. P.H. Nonis’s period with more players getting added on. P.S. Rodrigo, Rohan’s younger brother Prasan, Dallas Achilles, Nilkantha Gunawardena, C.T Rodrigo and a young player by the name of Walker (whose first name is unavailable) joined the former four which made a formidable squad. Mr. Wilfred Wickramasinghe was appointed master in charge while P.S. Rodrigo was the Senior Captain and Prasan Wijesinghe the Junior Captain.
By this time Royal, S. Thomas’, St. Joseph’s, Christian Collage, Dharmashoka Collage and St. John’s Jaffna had also embraced the game. Regular inter-school matches were held between them.
The Colombo YMCA started conducting annual tournaments and our players have excelled on many occasions. The outstanding performances on record are that of Rohan Wijesinghe who came to the finals in the singles and lost to L.R. Ariyananda of Dharmashoka (who later went on to become National Champion). In the same tournament he partnered Ariyananda and won the doubles event and partnered Marie Perera of Holy Family Convent to win the mixed doubles. Ironically, in the same tournament Prasan Wijesinghe became Juvenile Triple Crown winner which gave Wesley Badminton the top billing at that time. Also in the same year Rohan again won the YMCA novices beating P.S. Rodrigo who was his team mate in the final. P.S. Rodrigo later became Y.M.C.A Champion and a National Player.
With the above named players gradually leaving school the game had a natural death until a revival took place in 1967 during the period of Mr. Shelton Wirasinha as Principal. This revival was initiated by Shanti McLelland who spoke to the principal and obtained permission to resume badminton in the college hall. The game re-started andwas sustained due to the great efforts by Ranil Senevirathne who virtually sponsored the badminton activities of Wesley while being captain of the team.

Mr. Wilferd Wickrmasinghe took over as master in charge again and the court was re-laid in the center of the hall. The group that got together around Ranil were Ajith Wijayasinghe, Kingsley Nallathamby, M. Rajasingham, S.Shanmugarajah and D.N. Vedhavanam to name a few. This revival ushered in the golden era of Wesley Badminton with Ajith and Kingsley going on to win the junior national title, the national novices and a few years later Kingsley going on to win the Sri Lanka National title. The team played under Ranil’s captaincy until 1969, when they finally won the Colombo Schools and Ceylon Schools titles.

A Wesleyite who also performed at the top end of National Badminton during the 60/70 era was Thilak Amerasinghe though he never played for college.
Ironically, the Wesley College hall was one of the most suitable venues for indoor badminton and as a result our players benefited immensely. It was also the venue for the Sri Lanka Nationals on many occasions.
Around 1970 Prasan Wijesinghe returned to Wesley to join the staff and took over as master in charge.
The development of juniors gradually took place and among them were players such as Malik Jahn, and Sarath Basnayake, who excelled by Winning Junior and Senior Nationals and playing for the country with distinction. Others who contributed to make a formidable squad were the Dangedara brothers Anil and Ajith, Rohan Gunesekera, Mansar Jahn, and Devage along with Juniors such as Navin De Silva, Samanjan Gunewickrama, Anura Bandara, Sanjeev Wijayasinghe to name a few.
It should be stated that Wesley did not have any Badminton Coach throughout this period. The master in charge and the senior players coached and guided the juniors.

The Superstars among all the stars of Wesley Badminton were Kingsley Nallathamby , Malik Jahn and Sarath Basnayake. 

Kingsley Nallathamby was Sri Lanka’s National Singles Champion in 1972, 1973 and 1975. Malik Jahn was Sri Lanka’s Doubles Champpion in 1978, 1979 and 1980 while Sarath Basnayake was Sri Lanka’s National Doubles Champion in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

It must be mentioned that from the three superstars Malik Jhan and Sarath Basnayake left the living world at a very young age and in the height of their life due to rather unfortunate and tragic circumstances. May their Souls Rest In Peace     

By 1972, Prasan left the staff and Mr. M.U.D.S. Kalupahana took over and continued the good work. He encouraged more juniors to take up the game and Badminton continued to flourish at Wesley. Many championships were won with Malik and Basnayake at the top of National Badminton. By 1980 Mr. Kalupahana also relinquished his services and Mr. M.A.N. Guneratne took over the duties of Master in Charge. 1978

The juniors that continued with the great encouragement under Mr. Kalupahana were taken on by Mr. Guneratne.  A few outstanding names of that group are Navin De Silva, Samanjan Gunewickrama, Sanjeev Wijayasinghe, Anura Bandara, Lakshitha Liyanage and Sarathchandra.  Navin was a promising shuttler until he took cricket as his number one sport. Vijitha de Silva joined Wesley in 1980 and this boosted up our strength.  This group also brought back to Wesley the Y.M C A & National Novices trophies and were the Runners Up in the Inter Schools Senior Championship in 1981.

During this era Wesley was a force to reckon with in Badminton and every Sri Lankan team or Sri Lankan Junior team had a few Wesleyites to carry our flag.
Mr. M A N Gunaratne left college around 1984 and Ms. Mahendran took over as teacher in charge. The top players also gradually left school and a new batch of players came in. We were demoted from “A” division which we held for two decades to “C” division and team building had to start all over again. Some players of this squad were Kaushalya & Nishantha De Alwis, Nalaka Rupasinghe, Rishan Mansoor and Pushpika Maganarachchi. They developed steadily and won the under 16 all island inter school “C” division in 1990, and the under 20 all island inter school “C” division in 1993.
Wesley also produced a few International Technical Officials of Asian and World Standard. Rohan Dissanayake was the first Sri Lankan to be appointed as an umpire of the World Federation. Ajith Wijayasinghe and Pushpika Maganarachchi were certificated as umpires of the Asian Federation.
Ajith Wijayasinghe went on to be appointed as a Tournament Referee of the Badminton World Federation and served as Chief Referee in the Common Wealth Games in Australia, the All African Games in Nigeria and over 70 International Championships covering over 40 countries. He is the only Sri Lankan to serve in this capacity at World Leveleven to date.
Among all sports at Wesley, Badminton has a unique record of the most number of National Champions and National Coloursman who represented the country.

Badminton Beyond 1991 – Compiled by the school

  • In 1992 Wesley wereAll Island Inter School Championships – B Division Runners Up. P. Maganarachchi and R. Mansoor were selected for Junior Nationals representing the Colombo Zone. They entered the Quarter Finals in the Final Round subsequently they reached the Semi Finals in the Novice Open (1992) conducted by Sri Lanka Badminton Association. Wesley College Badminton Team reached the Quarter Final of the National School Games organized by the Ministry of Education.
  • Wesley organized a tour of England and played a series of matches in England.
  • Mr. Kalupahana (Coach and M.I.C) was awarded the meritorious award by the International Badminton Federation
  • During the 1993 season under the captaincy of Rishan Mansoor and P. Maganarachchi the Wesley College Badminton Team were able to secure,
  • All Island Inter School Under 19 – C Division – Semi Finalists
  • All Island Inter School Under 16 – C Division – Runners Up
  • All Island Inter School Under 14 – B Division – Semi Finalists
  • J. Rodrigo, M. Nizer, S. Mohideen were notable players in the team being deemed as the Winners of the Western Province, B.A Inter Club Championships, Division II and Runners Up – Lanka Indoor Badminton Championship Tournament C Division.
  • The Team led by P. Maganarachchi were awarded the All Island Inter School Under 16 – B Division Champions and the Under 19 – C Division Champions in 1994 and in 1995 under the Captaincy of Arshad Maharoof and the tiring efforts of the Coach and Master in Charge, the Team was regarded as,
  • All Island Inter School – Under 19 – Champions
  • All Island Inter School – Under 16 – A Division – Quarter Finalists
  • Arshad Maharoof, Krishantha De Alwis, J. Rodrigo, S. Nizer and S. Moihdeen were Selected to represent the Colombo Zone at the Junior Nationals.
  • In 2001 notable Performances from Thulangana Siriwardane (U – 13), Sarith Fernando (U – 13) and Avanka Fernando (U -17) at the Junior Nationals. A Team consisting of Chetaka Kodikara, Ayeska Fernando, Avanka Fernando and Rushan De Silvawon over 6 Matches in the Under 19 All Island Badminton Tournament despite being 17 Years of Age.
  • The year 2004 sawMigara Wickremasinghe reach the semi finals in the Under- 10 age group category at the Colombo South Zone and Western Province Tournaments successfully qualifying to play at the All Island Tournament.
  • The Under 14 Team was a Semi Finalist in the D Division at the “Island Inter Schools U – 14 Badminton Tour” in 2006, while the Under 16 Team was declared “Champions” of the D Division Category at the Western Province Inter Schools Team Championship Tournament in 2007.
  • In the 2008 season the Sri Lanka Schools Badminton Age Group Championship (Western Province) Tournament and outstanding sportsmanship were witnessed from the below Wesleyites,
  • Under 13 – Nipun Fernando (Singles), Nipun Fernando and Madusha Senevirathne(Doubles) reached the Quarter Finals.
  • Under 15 – Migara Wickramasinghe (Singles)
  • Under 17 – Hasun Perera (Singles)
  • All of the above players reached the Quarter Finals of their respective events and were qualified from Western Province for the All Island Inter School Championship Tournament.
  • During the period 2009 – 2012, the Badminton Team continued to keep up to high standards and took part in the All Island Inter School Badminton Tournament throughout these years. The Under 14 and Under 16 Teams were Semi Finalists in numerous tournaments.
  • Wesley participated in the Junior National Badminton Championships in 2013. A few players qualified from Colombo for the All Island (Junior Nationals) Badminton Tournament.They were, J. Yugendran (U – 11), Warren Jayakumar (U – 13), Umak Aravindya and Madura Perera (U – 15), Nipun Fernando and N. Vishahan (Captain)
  • The Under – 15 Team emerged Runners – Up at the U – 15 Invitational All Island Tournament.
  • Badminton at Wesley was revamped in 2015 under the guidance of Mr. Ajith Wijayasingha. The Under 13 and 14 teams were exposed to 3 All Island Tournaments in which one team were titled “Runners Up” in a lower division.
  • The 4 Age Groups were elevated from the “E Division” to “C Division” in 2016.
  • The Under 14 and Under 16 became Champions in the Western Province Tournament Conducted by Institute of Sports Science and were astounding in other tournaments too.
  • The Under 19 team was placed 3rd in the All Island Tournament, “C” Division.
  • The Under 15 Badminton Team was Placed 3rd in the All Island Badminton Tournament.
  • The Under 13 Badminton Team emerged champions of the “C Division” in 2017
  • The Under 15 Team was Semi Finalist in the “B Division” of the All Island Tournament held in Galle in 2018 and in 2019 two Players namely, Joshua Shalom and Yohan Asher qualified to represent Wesley College at the All Island Badminton Championships to be held in 2020.
  • Wesley became second runner up in the In the Sri Lanka Schools Championship Under 15 Division 3 tournament played at Galle in 2022
  • Sri Lanka Schools Badminton UN – 19 team Championship held on 20th, 21st & 23rd September 2022 at Royal College Sports Complex. Wesley Participated in Division “C” and won Championship.

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