Sports

Confident Sri Lanka team leave for Asian Youth Athletics Championships

Published

2 years ago

2023/04/24

Seated from left: Lesandhu Arthavidhu (Captain), Chandana Ekanayake (Team Manage), Nuwan Buddhika (Coach),Chaturang i Weerakkody (Lady Chaperon). Back row (from left) Dulanjana Pradeepani Wickramasinghe, Jathya Kirula, Nilupul Pehasara Thenuja, Ayomal Akalanka, Thushen Malindaratne, Kasuni Nirmalee Wickramasinghe.

By Reemus Fernando

Sri Lanka Youth athletics team expect all participants to win podium places when they compete in the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan this week. The seven member team inclusive of two medallist from the last edition were schedule to leave for Uzbekistan in the morning today.

“All seven members are in the medal winning standard. We look forward to win medals in all events they take part in,” Buddhika Nuwan, the coach of the touring team told The Island on the eve of the team’s departure yesterday.

“We expect Nirmali to improve the colour of the medal she won last time. She is currently in the range of two minutes and 14 seconds in her event. She did two minutes and 15 seconds to win the silver at the last edition,” said Nuwan of his charge Nirmali Wickramasinghe who won silver in the girls’ 800 metres at the last edition in Kuwait.

Dulanjana Wickramasinghe is the other girl in the team and she too is trained by Nuwan. Wickramasinghe will compete in the 1,500 metres. Both athletes are from Wickramabahu National School, Gampola. Dulanjana clocked 4;47.89 to finish head to head with Nirmali to share the first and second places in a photo finish at the selection trial held recently. Here winning time is better than that of the gold medalist at the last edition.

D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo athlete Lesandu Arthavidu who won a bronze medal at the last edition will compete in the high jump. He cleared a height of two metres at the selection trial. Dikwella Central high jumper Nilupul Pehesara Thenuja who also cleared the same height at the trial is the other high jumper expecting to excel at the regional championships.

Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Ayomal Akalanka’s performance in the boys’ 400 metres hurdles was 52.87 seconds. That places him among the two hurdlers of his age category in Asia.

Maris Stella College jumper Thushen Malindaratne Silva will compete in the boys’ pole vault after having achieved the qualifying standard with a feat of 4.65 metres at the selection trial. Mahinda College, Galle sprinter Yathya Kirulu who excelled in the 400 metres is the other athlete in the team. The team is expected to reach Uzbekistan on April 25.

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Dharshana and co win invitational relay

Published

10 hours ago

2025/04/11

Priyan

Sri Lanka ‘A’ team inclusive of Olympian Aruna Dharshana, Sadew Rajakaruna, R. Madushan and Kalinga Kumarage won the invitational 4×400 metres relay ahead of Sri Lanka ‘B’ and India at Diyagama a little while ago.

They returned a time of 3:05.60 seconds( not the official time) to win.

They remained unchallanged from the gun to finish as Dharshana provided a solid start for the others to maintain. Their only challange came from the Sri Lanka ‘B’ team who beat India to the third place.

India did not field their best team.

Kalinga Kumarage did the anchor leg for Sri Lanka.

The Maldives and the Phillippine teams were well behind the winners.

Sri Lanka Athletics conducted the event in a bid to provide the country’s 4×400 metres team a chance to produce a top timing.

(RF)

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Mohamed Salah signs new two-year contract with Liverpool

Published

14 hours ago

2025/04/11

Priyan

Mohamed Salah has scored 243 goals in 394 games for Liverpool [BBC]

Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.

The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.

However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.

“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.

“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.

“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”

Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.

Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.

He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.

Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.

[BBC]

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MS Dhoni to lead CSK after Ruturaj Gaikwad is ruled out of IPL with injury

Published

14 hours ago

2025/04/11

Priyan

MS Dhoni chats with Stephen Flemming [Cricinfo]

MS Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Rutraj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.

CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game. He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 8. After five games, he was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he was CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.

“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.

“So we’re disappointed, and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”

Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad. He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership some way into the season after the team went through a bad run of results. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League trophies as well.

“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”

After their home game against KKR on today, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 14 and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20.

[Cricinfo]