by Reemus Fernando

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Rumesh Tharanga powered Sri Lanka’s track and field to new heights with yet another dominant performance, winning the men’s javelin title at the World Athletics’ inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Sunday.

‎In a performance that reconfirmed his position as the globe’s number one athlete in his discipline, Tharanga’s feat stood out not just for its drama on the field, but for how rarely Sri Lanka has produced a champion at this level.

‎Tharanga arrived in Budapest as the man to beat, having won 11 of his 12 competitions in 2026 and lived up to his billing winning by a huge margin.

‎Tharanga had already elevated the country’s profile when he qualified for the Ultimate Championship. Track and field is taken part part by over 190 countries in the world but athletes from only 65 countries could secure a berth in the Ultimate Championship. Only six Asian countries had athletes qualifying for the Budapest event. Hence he was already a winner before he entered the arena.

‎When the dust settled, not even half the nations that took part had a champion in any discipline.

How Tharanga dominated

‎‎Tharanga opened with an uncharacteristic throw of 75.89m, while European champion Julian Weber (Germany) took an early lead with 84.09m. In the second round two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada surged ahead with 86.18m. Weber improved to 85.89m but slipped to second. Tharanga found his rhythm with a throw of 85.69m. It was during the third round the 23-year-old seized the lead with a throw of 87.11m. Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan managed a season’s best 81.49m — good enough only for fifth and was eliminated before the final round.

‎In the final round, Tharanga produced a massive 91.09m throw, the first-ever 90-metre throw in Hungary according to World Athletics. Peters (82.63m) and Weber (78.75m) couldn’t respond, and the title was sealed.

‎‎Sri Lanka has not seen their athletes atop global athletics podiums. Only two Sri Lankan athletes have won Olympic or World Championship medals in the country’s history- underscoring how exceptional a global title of this magnitude is for Sri Lankan sport. Neither of the two winners won golds.

Tharanga created history when he won the Diamond League title a week ago. And on Sunday he continued his remarkable breakthrough year winning the Ultimate title.

‎A Sri Lankan winning a world-level throws title, against a field including an Olympic champion and a two-time world champion, is a landmark rather than a routine occurrence.

‎”This was my one and only goal — to bring the trophy to Sri Lanka,” Tharanga told the World Athletics after the event.

‎”I faced a lot of challenges today but I was still hoping to win and I’m proud I did it. I was never thinking about the prize money and I don’t have any idea yet how I will spend it. My next goal is to bring the Olympic gold medal home.”

‎While Budapest was the final destination for many top athletes for this season, Tharanga will have no time to rest as he has another milestone to accomplish when he leads Sri Lanka at the Asian Games starting in Nagoya, Japan later this week.

‎His presence means Sri Lanka has a near certain gold medal opportunity in track and field.

The heartbreak of the T-20 World Cup earlier this year is still fresh. Sri Lanka failed to reach the semi-finals despite enjoying home advantage throughout the tournament, with their batting proving the Achilles heel. Those concerns have hardly disappeared as they head into a three-match T-20 series against England, beginning today in Southampton.

The batting misfired in both warm-up games against England Lions and how Sri Lanka respond when the real business begins remains to be seen.

It is not as though they have not tried to find answers. Sri Lanka Cricket has brought in power hitting coaches and psychologists, while several batters have been given a long rope. Yet none of those measures has produced the desired results in the shortest format.

T-20 cricket remains Sri Lanka’s weakest suit, as reflected by their ranking of ninth in the world, their lowest position across the three formats.

England, meanwhile, arrive with considerably more swagger. They went down fighting to eventual champions India in the semi-final of this year’s World Cup and are currently ranked second in the world, level on points with India. A series win will see Harry Brook’s side seize the number one ranking.

Sri Lanka have plenty of motivation of their own, with a 2-1 series victory helping them climb the rankings.

The bigger question, however, is how a batting unit short on confidence will cope against a formidable England attack.

Pathum Nissanka remains Sri Lanka’s biggest hope. Ranked sixth in the world, the top order batter has frequently carried the burden on his broad shoulders and once again much will depend on how he fares against the new ball.

Barring Kusal Janith Perera, there has been little change to the batting unit that featured at the World Cup. Given the continued struggles, it is fair to wonder whether Sri Lanka need to rethink not merely their approach but also the personnel entrusted with carrying it out.

The bowling, though, paints a much brighter picture.

Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana are both ranked among the world’s top ten, while the fast bowling unit has arguably been the most impressive component of the side. Their skill set and ability to hold their nerve under pressure have repeatedly helped Sri Lanka drag games back when the batting has left them with little margin for error.

One question that lingers, however, is whether Sri Lanka require quite so many spin options in English conditions.

Apart from Hasaranga and Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage and Tharindu Rathnayake are also part of the squad, leaving the selectors with some interesting calls to make over the balance of the side.

England have named a formidable squad led by Brook and featuring established match winners Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid.

There is also room for uncapped Welshman Aneurin Donald, a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket, while 22-year-old spin bowling all-rounder James Coles is the other uncapped player in the squad.

SSC have been quite impressive in domestic cricket this season having already reached the finals of the one-day competition last week and this week they have reached the T-20 finals.

SSC beat a strong NCC side in the semi-final at RPS on Sunday night and will take on Tamil Union in the final on Wednesday also at RPS.

Tamil Union beat CCC in a high scoring game on Sunday at SSC. The scores were tied at the end of 20 overs sending the game to a Super Over and Tamil Union won the contest by the barest of margins.