Apna Perera and Dinara de Silvaemerged as the men’s and women’s singles champions respectively at the 110th Colombo Championships continued at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts.

In the men’s singles final, Apna beat Ashen Silva 7-6, 6-1. Dinara registered convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over Venuli Jayasinghe in the women’s final.

In the boys’ Under 18 semi-finals, Ashlin de Silva beat Nethmika Wickramasinghe 6-2, 6-1 while Mayooran Kubheran beat Aahil Kaleel 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

National champion Chamod Yodasinghe secured a creditable second place rank for an impressive performace of 10.27 seconds as he out did a strong field in the 100 metres at the Dubai Grand Prix on Friday.

Yodasinghe who was entered only for the 4x100m relay received a golden opportunity in Dubai when his request to run the 100 metres there was granted by the organisers. The athlete trained by sprint coach Sanjeewa Weerakkody equalled his personal best (10.27 seconds) in winning his race.

Incidentally, his winning time was second only to the winner of the first race where top ranked athletes including Yupun Abeykoon competed.

Oman’s Ali Al Balooshi was the fastest as he clocked 10.19 seconds while Abeykoon finished fifth with a time of 10.39 seconds.

Abeykoon who was making his first 100 metres appearance of the year was ranked sixth overall.

In the 4×100 metres relay Sri Lanka’s quartet finished third in a time of 39.41 seconds.

Yodasinghe will next compete at the Asian Athletics Championships later this month.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s 4×400 metres mixed relay team finished last in their heat at the World Relays in China yesterday.

by Reemus Fernando

India posted the highest women’s ODI score in Sri Lanka, and their fourth-highest total in the format, which set them up for a statement win in the tri-series final in Colombo. After piling on the runs, they dismissed Sri Lanka for 245 to underline their dominance over a side they have only lost to three times in 34 completed ODIs.

Smriti Mandhana scored her 11th ODI century, and first against Sri Lanka, and was the senior partner in the two stands that formed the spine of the Indian batting effort. She put on 70 for the first wicket with Pratika Rawal and 120 for the second with Harleen Deol as India raced to 190 inside 33 overs. Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues all contributed scores in the 40s and India scored 90 runs off the last ten overs to top 340.

That meant Sri Lanka had to complete the highest successful chase in women’s ODIs – a record they already hold – and had to score at a shave under seven runs an over from the get-go. Although the surface and outfield were suited to run-scoring, the task was too tough. They had three half-century stands and one individual fifty from Chamari Athapaththu but could not keep up with the required run rate. Seamer Amanjot Kaur picked up three wickets and offspinner Sneh Rana bagged 4 for 38 to finish as the series’ leading wicket-taker.

But India did not have it all their way early on. Rawal could have been out third ball when she flicked Malki Madara into the leg side, where Harshitha Samarawickrama got hands to the ball but could not hold on. Mandhana was aggressive in the powerplay but she could have been out immediately afterwards when Inoka Ranaweera was brought on. Mandhana, on 21, hit her straight to mid-off where Piumi Wathsala palmed the chance over her head. In her next over, Ranaweera drew both Mandhana and Rawal’s edge but in the first instance, the ball flew through point for four and in the second, it fell short of backward point. Sri Lanka eventually broke through when Rawal handed a catch to Wathsala at mid-on and she made no mistake.

The fall of the wicket prompted Athapaththu to bring herself on and it did not take long before Mandhana got stuck in. She sent the first ball of Athapaththu’s second over back over her head for six. In the next over, Mandhana brought up fifty with a sweep for four through backward square leg in what became a favourite scoring area for her. She scored 34 runs in that section of the ground, exactly the same as the number of runs she scored through the covers and an indication of how well she used her feet to open up areas on the off and on side.

Mandhana dominated the second-wicket partnership, and scored 80 runs to Deol’s 37 and was particularly severe on Vihanga and Athapaththu. She scored 33 runs from the 23 balls she faced from Athapaththu, including 17 runs from Athapaththu’s seventh over. Her runs came with four successive sweeps for four and the third brought up Mandhana’s century, off 92 balls.

Just when Sri Lanka may have wondered where they would get a wicket from, Mandhana sliced Vihanga to backward point where Samarawickrama took a simple catch. Four overs later, Vihanga also removed Deol, whom she caught off her own bowling, to collect her 11th wicket of the series and put her level with Rana at the top of the bowling charts albeit temporarily.

Harmanpreet and Rodrigues were energetic at the crease and shared a 48-run stand in 32 balls, and both fell trying to play big shots off Sugandika Kumari. Harmanpreet top-edged an attempted sweep and was caught at short fine and Rodrigues was caught at long-on. Deepti Sharma added the finishing touches with 20 off 14 balls.

India’s defence got off to a perfect start when Amanjot bowled Hasini Perera with her third ball and Sri Lanka were 0 for 1. Athapaththu came in at No. 3 and announced herself when she smashed Amanjot through point and then hooked her over fine leg; it was clear India would have something of a fight on their hands. But Athapaththu struggled to sustain her fluency and though her stand with Vishmi Gunaratne grew 68, the required run rate climbed to 7.5 an over. When Amanjot returned for a second spell, Gunaratne was bowled as she moved too far across her stumps and missed a flick.

Athapaththu was on 25 off 39 balls then and upped her tempo to reach a 19th ODI half-century off 63 balls but had already offered India a chance. She was on 43 when she smashed the ball back at Rana and it burst through the Indian offspinner’s hands. Rana also appeared to injure herself attempting the catch but returned to get her own back. She lured Athapaththu forward with a full ball that snuck under the bat and bowled her. Sri Lanka were 121 for 3 in the 24th over and still needed 222 runs from 26.4 overs and it seemed only a matter of time before India would get their hands on the trophy.

Sri Lanka put up some late resistance through Samarawickrama, who scored 26 off 32 balls before sending Amanjot to backward point. Rana picked up a second when Nilakshika Silva was caught at long-off. Sri Lanka’s eighth-wicket pair of Sanjeewani and Kumari frustrated India’s attack and put on 47 in 53 balls. It took a run-out and a double-strike from Rana in her final spell to finish things off. Still, India sounded a warning ahead of this year’s World Cup, where they are among the favourites. Sri Lanka, who don’t have any more matches scheduled before the tournament, have some work to do.

Brief scores:

India Women 342 for 7 in 50 overs (Pratika Rawal 30, Smriti Mandhana 116, Harlene Deol 47, Harmanpreet Kaur 41, Jemimah Rodrigues 44, Deepti Sharma 20*; Malki Madara 2-74, Dewmi Vihanga 2-69, Sugandika Kumari 2-59) beat Sri Lanka Women 245 in 48.2 overs  (Vishmi Gunaretne 36, Chamari Athapaththu 51, Nilakshika Silva 48, Harshitha Samarawickreme 26, Anushka Sanjeewani 28, Sugandika Kumari 27; Sneh Rana 4-38, Amanjot Kaur 3-54) by 97 runs

[Cricinfo]