SOUTH KOREA, July 6, 2025 (ePRESS) – Sri Lanka’s junior squash players produced several strong performances at the 32nd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championship concluded in South Korea, with Manuth Dassanayake and Ifra Booso reaching the top 12 and 16 in their respective events while three more players clinched plate titles.
Manuth Dassanayake gave one of the most exciting displays in the tournament when he fought his way to the Top 16 Plate quarter-final. He faced third seed W Tang of Hong Kong in a tense match, losing the opening set 10/12 but bouncing back in style to win 11/7 and 11/9. His brave run ended in the semi-final against second seed J Shreyansh of India, losing 11/3, 11/5 but finishing proudly among the top 12 in his age group.
Meanwhile, Ifra Booso also showed great promise in the Top 16 Plate event, narrowly losing her quarter-final to C Sailajja from Malaysia in straight sets of 11/7 and a tight 12/10, missing out by just two points in the second set.
In the Boys Under-19 Top 32 Plate event, Junior National Champion Matheesha Wijesekara stormed into the semi-finals with victories over A Teeratas and T Nattaphat of Thailand, before falling to P Mingi of Korea. Tharul Pinwatta also impressed, defeating R Muhammad from Indonesia before losing to the same Korean opponent, Mingi P, in a hard-fought quarter-final with set scores of 12/10, 7/11, 11/7.
In the Girls Under-19 Top 32 Plate event, Miyuni Weerasinghe defeated J Shaw from Chinese Taipei before losing to N Supakorn in the quarter-finals.
Thedara Liyanage advanced to the Girls Under-17 Top 32 Plate semi-finals with a victory over J Dana from Korea, while Nethmi Wickramasinghe won her match against B Ariungoo of Mongolia but exited in the quarter-finals.
In the Girls Under-15 Top 32 Plate event, Sithumi Mendis reached the semi-finals after beating O Chanidabha from Thailand and L Jane from Korea, but lost to S Emily from Japan. Both Chanumi Thebuwana and Methuki Herath fell at the quarter-final stage.
In the Girls Under-13 Top 32 Plate event, Thinaya Thilakarathna overcame C Eon of Korea in a tight contest and received a walkover from K Gamin of Korea to reach the semi-finals. Dinithma Miheli also made the semis after victories over K Yevin of Korea and Taveesha Goonesekara of Sri Lanka. However, both lost their semi-final matches to opponents from Chinese Taipei and Macau respectively.
There was more to celebrate for Sri Lanka in the Top 64 Plate events.
Vishan Rantunga bagged the Boys Under-19 Plate title by defeating opponents from China and Chinese Taipei before overcoming K Hyeon of Korea in the final.
In the Boys Under-17 Top 64 Plate event, an all-Sri Lankan final took place between Manula Kareendra and Linuka Silva. Manula beat G Munkh from Mongolia and K Seongju from Korea, while Linuka battled past Ranuka Perera and O Jihun from Korea. In a thrilling final, Manula Kareendra edged out Linuka Silva 11/9, 7/11, 11/9.
Kavithma Silva was another title winner for Sri Lanka in the Girls Under-19 Top 64 Plate event. She beat Y Inkadara of Kazakhstan to reach the final, where she dominated Y Pan of Chinese Taipei with identical scores of 11/3, 11/3 to lift the title.
