Sports
Chamara, Niluka eliminated from first round
Badminton national champion Niluka Karunaratne and South Asian Games gold medallist Chamara Nuwan Dharmawardena were eliminated from their respective competitions at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
Karunaratne, who was competing in his third Olympics, was beaten by Nguyen Nhat of Ireland 2-0 (21-16, 21-14). It was the second defeat suffered by Karunaratne in Group ‘F’ after conceding a 2-0 loss at the hands of tenth seed Wang Tzu-Wei of Chinese Taipei on Saturday.
At the time he was selected for Olympics Karunaratne was ranked 99th in the world.
Judoka Chamara who was making his second straight Olympic appearance was eliminated in 29 seconds in the round of 32.
Chamara Dharmawardena was beaten by Houssein Aden-Alexandre of Djibouti within 29 seconds.
Competing in the men’s 73 kg event he was beaten by Houssein Aden-Alexandre of Djibouti who scored an Ippon to advance to the round of 16.
Chamara who was one of the two flag bearers for Sri Lanka at the opening ceremony first represented Sri Lanka at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Sports
Pant, Axar star in Delhi Capital’s nervy final-over win over Gujarat Titans
Delhi Capitals rode on their captain’s incredible knock of 88 from 43 balls to eke out a narrow four-run victory over Gujarat Titans, despite the best efforts of Sai Sudharsan, David Miller and Rashid Khan to stop the hosts from doing the double over them. Pant’s knock, along with Axar Patel’s essay (66 off 43) and Tristan Stubbs’s late cameo (26 off 7) turbo-charged DC’s innings well past the 200-run mark, and yet proved to be just about enough to pick the two points in the end.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88*, Axar Patel 66, Jake Fracer-McGurk 23, Tristan Stubbs 26*; Sandeep Warrier 3-15, Noor Ahmad 1-36) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55, Wriddhiman Saha 39, Rashid Khan 21*; Anrich Nortje 1-48, Rasikh Salam 3-44, Mukesh Kumar 1-41, Axar Patel 1-28, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29) by 4 runs
Sports
Akalanka, Abisheka qualify for finals
Asian Junior Athletics Championships
by Reemus Fernando
Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Ayomal Akalanka who was included in the team at the eleventh hour qualified for the finals of the men’s 400 metres hurdles as he came almost close to matching his personal best time on day one of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Dubai on Wednesday.
Akalanka clocked 52.96 seconds to finish second in his heat and qualify for the finals.
Sri Lanka Athletics decided to drop him from the team after the Commonwealth Youth Game medallist failed to reach qualifying standards at the trials. He was included at the eleventh hour on the request of the Sports Minister who heeded an appeal. Akalanka will compete in the final on Friday.
Young Tharushi Abisheka provided the Sri Lankan team a morale boosting start as she qualified for the final of the women’s 800 metres in the morning.
Abisheka is the youngest member in the team and is eligible even to compete at the next edition of this Under 20 event in 2026. The Wickramabahu National School Gampola athlete finished third in her heat and will carry the third fastest time to the final which will be held on Friday.
In the men’s 100 metres, Merone Wijesinghe of Ananda College Colombo finished fourth in his heat.
When this edition went to press women’s team captain Madushani Herath of Nannapurawa MV Bibila was competing in the women’s triple jump.
Sri Lanka fielded a team of 17 athletes including four relay teams for the four-day regional event.
Sports
Saneshi wins three titles at Bandarawela
Saneshi Willoraarachchi won three titles at the Bandarawela Open Ranking Tennis Tournament.
The Musaeus College player won the women’s open singles, women’s open doubles and the Under 18 girls’ doubles.
She beat Inuki Jayaweera 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s open singles final and joined the latter to score a 4-2, 5-4 win in the doubles final against Lihini Jayakody and Diyana de Silva.
Saneshi and Inuki overcame a first set defeat to beat Gehansa Methnadi and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 0-4, 5-4, 10-6 for the Under 18 doubles title.
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Hello Madras, ‘ai api kaluda?’