The 36th Junior National Squash Championship, organized by Sri Lanka Squash and sponsored by CBL (Foods) International, took place at the Ratmalana Air Force Squash Complex from August 15th -24th , 2025. For the Under 17 and Under 19 age groups, the tournament also served as a PSA Satellite Squash Tournament, allowing junior participants to earn international ranking points.

Mathhesha Wijesekara from Royal College, who recently qualified for the semi finals of the consolation plate event at World Junior squash Championships in Egypt defended his title overcoming his school mate Tharul Pinwatta in straight games with the scores on 11/4, 11/7, 11/7.Although Tharul Pinwatta took the initial lead in the 1st and 3rd sets he could not take control of the full game as Matheesha came from behind using his experience and tactics to win the Junior National title for the second consecutive year.

In the girl’s category Nethmi Wickramasinghe from Ladies College created a major upset to overcome much experienced top seed Ranliya Wood. Although Ranliya took the initial lead in the first set, Nethmi fought back strongly to take the first set at 11/7 and continued her winning spree winning the third set too. Ranliya Wood used all her experience to take the 2nd and 4th sets to level the sets at 2-2. Both the players fought very hard and ultimately Nethmi Wickramasinghe proved her capability winning the last set at 11/5 to win her maiden Junior National Title.

Kemitha Hapuarachchi from Royal College earned the Most Promising Boy Player award (Air Vice Marshall AB Sosa Challenge Trophy) after stretching Top seed Manuth Dassanayake to 17-15 and 11-8 in the first and third sets in the final and settling with runner-up position in the Boys Under-17 category and winning 4th place in the Boys Under-19 category, demonstrating his skill and fighting spirit across two challenging age groups.

Chanumi Thebuwena from Gateway International School received the Most Promising Girl Player award (Wing Commander Noel Fernando Challenge Shield), having won the Girls Under-15 title and secured 4th place in the Girls Under-17 category reflecting her hard work, discipline, and talent.

Additionally Manuth Dassanayake from Gateway College too proved his class being the only player to win two age group titles winning both U-17 and u-15 age group categories.

Ifra Booso from St Pauls Girls School- Milagiriys too displayed her dominance to win u-17 category overcoming Nethmi Wickramsinghe but could not maintain the momentum against the Girls upcoming promising player Chanumi Thebuwena in the U-15 category.

After another hard fought 5 setter Akane Konara from S Thomas College- Mount Lavinia went to take the boys U-13 title overcoming Haashid Noordeen from Lourve College Dinethma Miheli from Sirimavo Balika Vidyalaya went on to win the Girls U-13 title overcoming Nethanya Wickramasinghe from Ladies College.

CBL (Foods) International a great promoter of Sri Lanka Squash came forward for the 17th consecutive time to sponsor the most awaited junior squash tournament in the country as a testimony to its commitment to uplift the game of squash in the country.

The awards ceremony was graced by Mr Dulanjan Abesekara – Assistant Brand Manager at CBL Foods as Chief guest while Mr Panchamaya Ratnayake- senior manager-Promotions and activation at CBL foods graced the occasionas guest of honor while Mr Pasan Herath – Senior Brand executive of CBL Foods too participated as a special invitee.

Sri Lanka is poised for a new era of growth in the coming years with the players making their mark in PSA international and Asian Junior arena. As a brand that endorses an active and healthy lifestyle, the committed sponsorship of the sport by CBL (Foods) International has been an invaluable support to Sri Lanka Squash in developing the sport in the country.