Sam Chandrasena, at 85, is the oldest living national badminton champion of Sri Lanka, the other being Dick Schoorman.
Chandrasena as a youngster was able to win the Junior National Championships defeating his friend and colleague N. Rasalingam in 1953 at the Cosmopolitan Open Badminton Championships held at outdoor courts at Fernando Road, Wellawatte in the presence of Sir Allan Rose, who was the chief justice of Ceylon and many other distinguished guests.
The president of the Badminton Association of Ceylon was Barrister BR de Silva who formed the association along with other members in 1951 and affiliated the association to the International Badminton Federation (IBF) housed in London in 1953.
The Cosmopolitan Sports Club (CSC) conducted Open Championships since 1945 at the outdoor courts in Wellawatte. In 1945 the men’s Singles was won by Macguire and the women’s Singles by Cynthia Fernando.
In 1952-53 the first national Single’s champion of Ceylon was P. Sivalingam and the women’s Singles was won by Nanda Nagasinghe.
The boys’ Singles (Under 17) was won by Sam Chandrasena defeating his colleague and friend N.Rasalingam.
Since 1953 many national champions both in the categories of men and women were recognized for their continuous achievements and wins and Rasalingam won it five times while Riaf Jansz won it twice, LR Ariyananda won it five times and Chandrasena won the championship twice over too.
Chandrasena was also an able and efficient administrator holding the positions as secretary, vice president and president of the Badminton Association of Ceylon and Chairman of the Selection Committee.
He led the national team as a player for the Thomas Cup world championship, the Asian Games, the Asian Badminton Championship in India and the Lal Badur Championship in India from 1962 to 1969.
At present the Karunaratne brothers have the National title over six times and the women’s Singles have been won by Chandrika de Silva over five times.