An exhibition badminton match between Sri Lanka’s youngest Olympian shuttler, Viren Nettasinghe, and Anders Antonsen, the World No.2 ranked in Men’s Singles, will take place at the Mercantile Badminton Association (MBA) Courts at Malalasekara Mawatha, Colombo 7 on Friday, June 13th. The match is set to begin at 2:00pm, as a friendly and exhibition game between the Badminton World Federation (BWF) No.2 and No.66 ranked in Men’s Singles, which comes as an ideal opportunity for local badminton followers to witness a high-profile game.
Viren became the youngest Sri Lankan athlete to earn direct qualification to represent his country at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France, and was named his country’s flag bearer at the Games. The former student of St. Peter’s College, quickly became a top badminton player and turned out for Sri Lanka at the BWF World Junior Championships 2019. In 2021, at the age of 18, he won the bronze medal at the Yonex Sunrise Bangladesh Junior International tournament, and went on to win the bronze at the Uganda Challenge 2022. Viren ranked 773rd in the world by the BWF in 2022, but with his impressive performances that followed, he is currently ranked 22nd in Men’s Singles at the age of 21.
Anders Antonsen, a Danish, is a three-time World Championships medalist, two-time European champion, and he has been ranked as high as No.2 in Men’s Singles in BWF World Ranking. The 28-year-old won the gold medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships in the Boy’s Singles, and the same year was awarded the European Young Player of the Year. Together with the national team, he won the European Men’s Team Championships in 2016 and 2018, also European Mixed Team Championships in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Anders was the champion at the 2019 Minsk European Games, 2021 European Championships, the silver medalist at the 2017 European Championships, and the 2019 World Championships, and the bronze medalist at the 2021 and the 2023 World Championships.
The exhibition game comes alive with the passionate contribution of local badminton stalwarts Sumith Guruge and Rohan de Silva, and with the collaboration of Sri Lanka Badminton and Ceylon Masters Badminton, who completed the successful Ceylon Masters International Badminton Championship 2025 on Monday.
