Sports
Winners from different regiments but from the same camp
Where were they at school level?
by Reemus Fernando
When the Sri Lanka Army’s 55th Road Race concluded at Panagoda on Saturday, distance runners from three different regiments crossed the finish line to clinch the first three medals. Although they were from different units and regiments, they represented one particular ‘camp’. Quite conspicuously the joy of winning was something these champions had not enjoyed at national school level.
The South Asian Games medallist and the men’s category champion Shanmugeshwaran Kumara is from the Artillery Regiment. The second placed veteran Kelum Sampath Gunasekara is from the Sinha Regiment. Sagara Wijewickrama who was placed third is from Gemunu Watch. But what was common was that all three had trained under respected middle and long distance coach Sajith Jayalal.
Not only the first three, but also the fourth and sixth placed athletes were also trained by Jayalal.
Shanmugeshwaran clocked one hour ten minutes and 16 seconds to win. Gunasekara finished nearly 30 seconds after him while Wijewickrama returned a time of one hour eleven minutes and 16 seconds. The fourth placed S.D. Gunasekara was just six seconds behind him.
“Some of them had been directed to me by the Army while I had directed some to the Army so that they could persevere in athletics,” said Sajith Jayalal in an interview with The Island.
Incidentally, Shanmugeshwaran’s potential was identified by Jayalal when he came for training in 2013. Shanmu, as he is lovingly called, left Hatton to find employment in Colombo in 2011 and worked for two years at a car wash at Wellawatta before Jayalal helped him find employment in the Army. What he won on Saturday was the title hat trick following wins at the last two consecutive Road Races of the Army. Under Jayalal’s guidance Shanmugeshwaran graduated to win the silver medal of the 10,000 metres behind India’s Suresh Kumar at the last South Asian Games.
According to Shanmugeshwaran he had not won at school level.
As Jayalal puts it none of the winners on Saturday had won at national level when they were schooling. It is true of many long distance runners who are currently winning at national level. Even last Saturday’s women’s category winner Wathsala Herath (1:25.15 sec) trained by Susantha Fernando had taken up distance running only after leaving school.
“The third placed winner in the men’s category, Sagara Wijewickrama won gold at national level in track and events last year while he had not won at school level either. He had identified his potential in long distance running only after joining the Army.”
While Jayalal should be applauded for guiding the athletes to reach national level, authorities should have a serious look why the country’s schools structure fail in producing distance runners to national level.
There is hardly any encouragement for middle and long distance running at school level. Ministry of Education is careful to limit its engagement with long distance running to the annual race they hold with the support of Nestle Lanka.
Proposals given to encourage distance running at school level are hardly given consideration. In fact the Ministry of Education scrapped the distance relay from its annual Relay Carnival couple of years ago. There was a proposal to conduct a schools cross country championship but the Ministry of Education is still silent on the idea.
The time consuming process of obtaining medical certificates for schools athletes to engage in track events longer than that 1,500 metres has also discouraged principals and masters in charge at schools from fielding athletes for those events.
Pakistan will play Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup semi-final on Friday after they secured a thumping win over Hong Kong in the final Group A contest. They finished second in their group with a 72-run win set up by a record-breaking spell of 6 for 7 from Nashra Sandhu and a resolute 35-ball 47 from Shawaal Zulfiqar.
Pakistan scored 143 for 8 after electing to bat first for the third time in as many matches, with Ayessha Zafar and captain Fatima Sana making valuable contributions of 26 off 19 and run-a-ball 24, respectively, before an excellent display of bowling saw Hong Kong fold for 71 in 19 overs.
Zulfiqar lives up to expectations
Zulfiqar made a thumping comeback to the T20I side last month in Sri Lanka and it made Pakistan persist with her at the top of the order despite the return of experienced Gull Feroza, who slid down to one-down. She could not build on a start against India with the wickets tumbling from the other end and the pressure mounting. But the right-hander fought through on Monday, despite the dismissals of experienced batters around her in Muneeba Ali (6 off 7) and Feroza (3 off 4).
Despite batting on a challenging surface that played slow and gripped, Zulfiqar timed the ball well as she struck six boundaries. She hit a few sparkling cover drives and stitched a sparkling partnership of 47 off 34 with Zafar before the latter fell in the 10th over. No Pakistan batter, barring Zafar and Fatima, was able to emulate the 21-year-old in an innings which saw only four batters post in the double digits.
Zulfqar was eventually outsmarted b Joyleen Kaur as she smashed a flighted ball outside off right back to the bowler to be caught and bowled in the 12th over. Pakistan seemed well in control until she was at the crease, but could add only 51 runs in 8.4 overs after her dismissal.
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Pakistan Women 143 for 8 in 20 overs (Shawaal Zulfiqar 47, Ayesha Zafar 26; Fatima Sana 14; Iqra Sathar 2-27, Kary Chan 2-33, Joyleen Kaur 4-19) beat Hong Kong Women 71/10 in 19 overs (Yasmin Daswai 13, Kary Chan 30, Joyleen Kaur 10; Fatima Sana 1-07, Sadia Iqbal 1-08, Um e Sabi1 1-21 Nashra Sandhu 6-07, ) by 72 runs
The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Udaygiri arrived at the Port of Colombo on an official visit today, 8 September 2026, where it was received by the Sri Lanka Navy in accordance with time-
honoured naval traditions.
INS Udaygiri is a 149.02m long Frigate, Commanded by Captain Vikas Sood. Meanwhile, the Commanding Officer of the visiting ship is scheduled to call on Commander Western Naval
Area, Rear Admiral Harsha De Silva at the Western Naval Command Headquarters.
Captain Sood served as the Defence Adviser at the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka from July 2020 to October 2023.
During their stay in the island, the crew of INS Udaygiri will participate in several goodwill events organized by the Sri Lanka Navy to enhance camaraderie between the two forces.
The visiting personnel are also scheduled to visit prominent tourist and cultural locations across the island.
Additionally, Sri Lanka Navy personnel are expected to visit the ship for capability observation and knowledge sharing, and will conduct onboard training during its stay.
Sri Lanka’s women continue to provide compelling evidence that they could be genuine contenders for the next World Cup, while their male counterparts have, in recent years, largely been making up the numbers at global events.
The defending Asia Cup champions, who stunned formidable India in Dambulla two years ago to lift the title, marched into this year’s semi-finals with an unbeaten record.
Sri Lanka topped their group with three wins from three games and importantly, will avoid India in the semi-finals. Their opponents in Friday’s knockout clash will be either Pakistan or Thailand.
For years, Sri Lanka have leaned heavily on their talismanic captain Chamari Athapaththu, one of the greats of the women’s game. More recently, however, others have begun putting their hands up when the skipper has fallen cheaply. That growing depth has also given Chamari greater freedom to play her natural, attacking game.
Last week, Nilakshika de Silva produced a rescue act against Indonesia. On Sunday, after the captain fell to only her second ball, it was the turn of vice-captain Harshitha Samarawickrama to take charge and steer Sri Lanka home through choppy waters.
Chasing 115 to win their final group game against Bangladesh at Dubai Sports City, Sri Lanka were quickly in trouble as seamer Marufa Akter sent both openers packing cheaply. With wickets continuing to tumble at the other end, Harshitha kept her head while others were losing theirs.
At 44 for five, with half the side back in the pavilion, Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel. Harshitha and Nilakshika then began the repair job, adding 38 for the sixth wicket to drag the innings back from the brink.
Marufa has been an outstanding find for Bangladesh and they rely heavily on her for breakthroughs. With one over remaining in her quota, she was summoned back to break the partnership and did precisely that, removing a well set Nilakshika as she attempted to improvise.
There was, however, no stopping Harshitha.
She found a reliable ally in wicketkeeper Kaushini Nuthyangana and the pair calmly took Sri Lanka across the line with an unbroken 33 run stand for the seventh wicket. Harshitha finished unbeaten on 38 off 47 balls, striking four fours and two sixes.
Sri Lanka got home with four balls to spare, maintaining their perfect record in the competition. Yet beneath the celebrations there will be a nagging concern: the batting has collapsed too often, leaving one or two players with far too much heavy lifting to do. That is something they will need to address before the stakes rise further.
Sri Lanka will play the second semi-final on Friday, with the final scheduled for Sunday.
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