Sports
Kalinga, Lakvijaya stamp their class with remarkable feats
By Reemus Fernando
Hurdler Janindu Lakvijaya and sprinter Kalinga Kumarage were among leading athletes to leave indelible marks at the 101st National Athletics Championships which concluded with India making a clean sweep of 4×400 relay medals at the Sugathadasas Stadium on Sunday.
Lakvijaya improved his own national record twice as he clocked 13.77 second in the heats on Saturday before cruising to a 13.72 seconds finish in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final yesterday. He broke his record created in March this year.
The meet’s most impressive performance came in the men’s 400 metres on Saturday as Kalinga Kumarage stamped his class with a remarkable 45.12 seconds finish to erase the long standing meet record of Rohan Pradeep Kumara. The Asian Games medallist Rohan Pradeep’s championship record had remained unchanged for 23 years before Kumarage shattered it on Saturday.
The athlete trained by Vimukthi Zoysa is now the second fastest athlete over the 400 metres in Sri Lanka’s history behind national record holder Sugath Thilakaratne. He over took Rohan Pradeep and Prasanna Sampath Amarasekara to secure the second spot in the list, while Aruna Dharshana once again clocked his personal best 45.45 to finish second behind Kumarage. The 400 metres sprinters have now clearly established themselves as serious contenders for 4×400 metres medals at the forthcoming Asian Games. However, they could not reproduce the glorious performance they showcased at the recently held Asian Championships in the 4×400 metres relay on Sunday.
The Indian quartets who did not take part in the individual event were fresh and they beat the Asian Championship record holders to the second place in the evening. The women’s 4×400 metres quartet competing without Tharushi Karunaratne settled for the second place with a feat of 3:37.7 seconds.
Veteran runner Gayanthika Abeyratne won back to back titles in the absence of Asian Championship 800 metres record holder Tharushi Karunaratne after the latter skipped the meet to recover from a slight injury. She is understood to have abandoned plans to qualify for the World Championships to concentrate on the Asian Games where she is the top contender. Abeyratne clocked 2:02.83 seconds to win. The event witnessed the former champion and Olympian Nimali Liyanarachchi making a return to win the silver medal in a time of 2:05.45 seconds.
She was not the only former champion to make a return. While Rumeshika Ratnayake clinched the sprint double, National record holder Vidusha Lakshani competing in the National Championship after a lapse of three years regained the women’s triple jump title on Saturday as she cleared 13.43 metres. Asian Championship participant Randi Cooray settled for the second place behind Vidusha with a performance of 13.41 metres.
Gayanthika Abeyratne won both the women’s 800 metres and the 1500 metres
Delhi Capitals’ (DC) signing of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizure Rahman for the remainder of IPL 2025 has hit a snag, with the BCB stating that it hasn’t been approached for a no-objection certificate (NOC).
Usually, the IPL only announces signings after a player has received an NOC from his home board. According to its CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, however, the BCB had yet to receive a request for one.
“Mustafizur is supposed to go with the team to the UAE according to the schedule,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday. “We have not received any communication from IPL officials. I have also not received any such official communication from Mustafizur either.”
Mustafizur is part of the Bangladesh T20I squad that is due to play back-to-back away T20I series against UAE and Pakistan, both of which clash with the IPL. On Wednesday, hours after the IPL announced his signing as a replacement for Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mustafizur flew out to Dubai with the rest of Bangladesh’s squad.
Bangladesh are due to play two T20Is in the UAE on May 17 and 19, followed by five in Pakistan on May 25, 27 and 30, and June 1 and 3. Those two series are in conflict with the IPL; DC are set to play their last three league matches on May 18, 21 and 24, followed by the playoffs should they get there.
ESPNcricinfo has sought a response from DC on this development.
[Cricinfo]
Sprinter Aruna Dharshana who is undergoing treatments for an injury he sustained during the World Relays, is racing against time to recover for the Asian Athletics Championships which will be held in South Korea later this month.
The 400 metres specialist is one of the two sprinters slated to compete in the one lap race. He is also a key member of the men’s 4×400 metres and 4×400 metres mixed relays alongside Kalinga Kumarage.
“Currently Dharshana is undergoing treatments. We are hopeful that he will recover in time for the Asian Championships,” Dharshana’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna told ‘The Island’.
“Sri Lanka Athletics will conduct a fitness test before the Asian Championships. Hopefully he will be ready by that time,” said Rajakaruna.
Sri Lanka Athletics earlier said that a fitness test will be held to assess the strength of the 20 strong team selected for the biennial event.
Sri Lanka fielded only a mixed relay team for the recently held World Relays in Guangzhou, China where an injury to Dharshana cost them a chance to achieve a top performance and a probable ticket to the World Championships in Tokyo later this year.
Sri Lanka won a historic gold medal in the men’s 4×400 metres at the last edition of the Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok Thailand where the team inclusive of Dharshana beat India to the second place with a new championship record time of 03:01.56 seconds.
Kalinga Kumarage who did the anchor leg and Dharshana are the only members from that gold winning team selected for the upcoming event.
Dharshana is the only Sri Lankan athlete to have clocked sub 45 seconds in the 400 metres after legendary Sugath Thilakaratne.
Dharshana and Kumarage hold the second and third places respectively in the list of fastest times achieved in the 400 metres by Sri Lankan athletes. Dharshana has a personal best of 44.99 seconds achieved during the last Olympic games.
by Reemus Fernando
110th Colombo Championships
Dinara de Silva bagged her second title of the Colombo Championships as she partnered Inuki Jayaweera to record straight sets victory in the women’s doubles final played at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts on Wednesday.
Dinara and Inuki beat Venuli Jayasinghe and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles final.
Incidentally, it was the second title of the tournament for both Dinara and Inuki.
While Dinara won the women’s singles and doubles titles, Inuki was the winner of the mixed doubles and the women’s doubles.
Women’s doubles results
Semi-finals
Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera beat Dulkini Ranasinghe and Tania Doloswala 6-3, 6-2
Venuli Jayasinghe and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi beat Bovindee Imihamy and Siyara Devappriya 6-3, 6-0.
Quarter-finals
Venuli Jayasinghe and S. Usgodaarachchi beat Tuvini de Alwis and Hasali Gajaba 6-4, 5-7, 10-3.
Dinara de Silva and Inuki Jayaweera beat Nimasha Shehara and Arushi Thomas 6-1, 6-3.
Dulkini Ranasinghe and Tania Doloswala beat Diyansa de Silva and Lihini Jayakody 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.
Bovindee Imihamy and Siyara Devappriya received a walkover from Gehansa Methnadi and Akeesha Silva.
Second lot of luxury and decommissioned vehicles owned by the Presidential Secretariat sold
President approves establishment of Anti-Corruption Investigation Units in Provincial Councils and LG Institutions
Seven new envoys to Sri Lanka present credentials to the President
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