Star shuttlers Viren Nettasinghe and Ranithma Liyanage will be in action among over 1500 competitors lined up for the 73rd National Badminton Championship 2025 set to take place from December 17th to 23rd at the S. Thomas’ College Indoor Sports Complex in Mount Lavinia.

Organised and conducted by Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB), the country’s main domestic badminton event will take place at Mount Lavinia for seven consecutive days, with an expected high participation of top ranked and leading shuttlers of the country, who will compete in different categories.

The SLB officials stated that they are currently overwhelmed by the extraordinary enthusiasm among local shuttlers as the number of entries this year exceeded last year’s total count of 1254, a clear progress from 2023 edition’s tally of 1140. This year, the count has improved beyond the tally of the previous editions to 1525 entries as confirmed, which substantiates the gradual progress of the shuttle sport as a result of continuous development programmes conducted by SLB over the recent years.

The final and official number of entries will be determined by SLB officials following the main draw, which will take place on December 14th at the SLB Headquarters at No.28, Maitland Place, Colombo 7. The main draw seeding will be determined based on SLB Ranking as of December 12th, and the draw will be conducted on BWF tournament software, and could be viewed live on the facebook page and website of SLB.

The championships with a grand prize money of Rs.2 million, will feature a wide range of events from Under-11 to Under-19 in the Junior category and Over-30 to Over-70 in the Senior category, as well as the Combined age category of 100+, 110+ and 120+. But, the Open events comprising Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles, will take centre stage at this grand annual event.

The opening ceremony will take place on December 17th, and will be followed by the preliminary rounds, leading up to the climax on December 19th with the Round of 16 and quarter-finals. The excitement will continue up to December 21st, with the highly anticipated semi-finals and additional quarter-final and selected final matches. The grand finale is set for December 23rd, where all the selected finals will be held, concluding with the Closing Ceremony to mark the culmination of the prestigious 73rd National Badminton Championship 2025.

At the 72nd National Badminton Championship 2024, Olympian Viren Nettasinghe and top seed women’s shuttler Ranithma Liyanage claimed double crowns, winning the Men’s Open Singles and Women’s Open Singles titles respectively. Viren and Ranithma paired up to complete a double crown by winning the Open Mixed Doubles title. Former national top ranked Buwaneka Goonathilake and Jason Homer emerged as the Open Men’s Doubles champions while the Open Women’s Doubles title was won by Varanjana Jayawardena and Rashmi Mudalige. The country’s elite domestic badminton event, conducted in accordance to BWF regulations, is sponsored by McFoil, Mobil, Li Ning, 3M and GAC.