Niluka Karunaratne
| Niluka Karunaratne | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Personal information | |
| Birth name | Niluka Karunaratne |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Born |
13 February 1985 Galle, Sri Lanka |
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight | 65 kg (143 lb) |
| Handedness | Right |
| Coach | Louie Karunaratne |
| Badminton – men's singles | |
| Highest ranking | 34 (June 27, 2013) |
| Current ranking | 123 (11 May, 2015) |
| BWF profile | |
Niluka Karunaratne (Sinhala: නිලූක කරුණාරත්න; Tamil: நிலுக கருணாரத்ன) (born 13 February 1985) is a Sri Lankan Olympic athlete. A badminton player, he was selected to captain the Sri Lankan contingent to the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Karunaratne, born in the coastal area of Galle, received his primary and secondary education in Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda and Royal College, Colombo, 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 currently holds a position in the banking sector as a bank employee.
As of July 2012[update], he is ranked 48th in men's singles from the Badminton World Federation. In 2012, the Sri Lankan Daily News called him "Sri Lanka’s undisputed badminton champion".
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he was knocked out of the men's singles in the round of 16 by Srikanth Kidambi. He was also part of the Sri Lankan mixed badminton team, which was knocked out at the quarterfinal stage by England.
On 30 July 2012 Karunaratne defeated world eighth-ranked Kenichi Tago of Japan 2–0. Karunaratne defeated Tago 21–18, 21–16 in 44 minutes at the Wembley Arena in the Olympic men's badminton singles Group C at the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Associated Press quoted him as saying: "This is the biggest win in the history of Sri Lanka badminton".India's Parupalli Kashyap sent him out of the Games, in a closely fought pre-quarter match.
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