Sports
Kandy huff and puff before beating Havies 27-22 at rugby
By A Special Sports Correspondent
Kandy Sports Club huffed and puffed before pulling off an exciting 27-22 win over a fighting Havelock Sports Club team in their Division 1 Inter-Club league rugby tournament match which was worked off on Sunday (January 7) at Nittawela.
Kandy SC were forced into a defence mode in the second session of play when the visiting team from Colombo found the art of playing many phases without losing the ball to shock the Nittawela side. Many thought Havies would pull off a win using this method, but some crucial errors by Havies when they were really on top and attacking saw the momentum they built in the second half being wasted. Kandy played brilliantly in the first half and scored three tries against two by Havies and enjoyed a two point (19-17) lead at half time. The try scorers for Kandy in the first half were Dilan Ekanayake, Danushka Ranjan and Chathuranga Kudalige. Havies got their first half tries through Senal Dheelaka and Randitha Warnapura.
Kandy were forced to make many errors and were seen giving away two yellow cards; both in the first half and one had such a crucial effect on the team set-up because it was one of the props which went out and stayed ten minutes in the sin bin. Havies had one yellow card.
Kandy capitalized on the Havies’ yellow card and got points through the boot of Tharinda Ratwatte. Srinath Sooriyabandara then put Kandy SC into a ten point lead with a solo run; eventually producing the team’s fourth and final try with the game 52 minutes old.
Havies hit back with a try from Dinupa Senewiratne, but the team’s place kickers, who failed miserably, failed in converting opportunity into points. The last promising move by Havies was squandered by a replacement player who opted to kick ahead instead of using the forwards and moving towards the Kandy try line.
The much improved CH & FC side recorded a hard-fought 14-10 win over Air Force Sports Club on Saturday (January 5) at Race Course in a game that retained it’s ability to entertain spectators right till the last whistle of the referee.
CH & FC dominated the first half and did all their try scoring during that period before running into stiff resistance from the Airmen in the second half. The second half gave some scares to the CH & FC side when they lost key players due to three yellow cards, but they managed to wade off the challenge posted by Air Force despite playing with 13 men at one time during the game. CH’s tries came through Prasath Madusanka and Dinesh Lakshan while the kicks at goal were taken by Hirusha Nethmina.
Air Force earned a first half penalty through the boot of Gayantha Iddamalgoda.
CR & FC continued their marauding form in the league Rugby tournament into the fifth week when they recorded a run-away 57-6 win over Navy SC at Welisara; also on Saturday. The winners ran down nine tries in total and snuffed the life out of the Sailors in both halves. CR & FC led 27-6 at half time. The try scorers for the winners were Randy Silva (2), Randul Senanayake (1), Raveen Silva (1), Iranga Ariyapala (1), Samith Warnakulasuriya (1), Rinesh Silva (2) and Shehan Kelaniyangoda (1). The kicks at goal were taken by Manilka Ruberu. CR & FC converted six of their nine tries.
On Friday (January 5) Police SC produced a hard- fought 19-10 win over Army SC at Police Park. The winners collected their points through three tries and two conversions while Army responded with two unconverted tries.
Sri Lanka Athletics has invited India, the Philippines and the Maldives for next month’s Relay Championships conducted by Sri Lanka Schools Athletics Association in a bid to provide the men’s 4×400 metres relay quartet with a chance to reach qualifying standards for the World Relays.
Currently Sri Lanka men’s 4×400 metres relay team is within the required ranking position to compete at the prestigious World Relays taking place in Guangzhou, China. The 3:04.48 seconds finish to win the gold medal of the men’s 4×400 metres at the Asian Relays in May last year has placed Sri Lanka in the 31st position in the ‘Road to Guangzhou’ rankings.
But with many competitions coming up within the next couple of months Sri Lanka Athletics wants to leave no stone unturned in their quest to keep the ranking position within the qualifying range.
The teams in the first 32 positions according to the times produced within the qualifying period (January 1, 2024 to April 13, 2025) become eligible for the World Relays taking place on May 10 and 11 in Guangzhou.
Sri Lanka’s chances of improving the current standings (31st) at this week’s World Indoor Championship in China are minimal as Olympian Aruna Dharshana, who is the fastest of the current crop of athletes will not be available for the event.
Dharshana is currently training and competing in Australia. He is looking forward to reach qualifying standards or reach the required ranking position for World Championships in the 400 metres.
The World Athletics has set a tough standard of 44.85 seconds for the men’s 400 metres. While only 17 are selected through direct qualifying standards, 31 athletes are selected through rankings for the 400 metres. Dharshana is yet yo enter rankings to be eligible for the World Championships.
Sri Lanka Athletics will field Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage, S.B.R. Madushan and Sadew Rajakaruna for the relay event in April.
by Reemus Fernando
Defence Services Beach Volleyball Championship 2025 was held from March 12 to 14 at the SLAF beach volleyball courts, Katunayake. During the finals SLAF Men’s team defeated SL Army (2-0) while the SL Navy Women’s team defeated SLAF Women’s team (2-0). Incidentally is the seventh Defence Services Beach Volleyball title won by the SLAF Men’s Team.
Base Commander SLAF Base Katunayake AVM Dhammika Dias graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Chairman of SLAF Volleyball, Group Captain Milinda Mendis, Senior Officers from SL Army and Navy were also present for the finals.
The Central Province Badminton Association (CPBA) is now accepting entries for one of Sri Lanka’s most anticipated badminton competitions, the Summer Season All-Island Open Championships 2025, which will be staged at the Municipal Council Indoor Stadium in Nuwara Eliya from April 21 to 27.
The highly followed seven-day annual badminton tournament, held during the Nuwara Eliya April Holiday Season, is known to attract Sri Lanka’s top ranked shuttlers. The National Ranking Level 1 competition, sanctioned by Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB), is one of the key sporting attractions of Nuwara Eliya during April every year, known to generate increasing public interest.
The championship will feature a wide range of events from Under-11 to Under-19 in the Junior category and Over-30 to Over-70 in the Senior category, with an addition of three Combined Age segment of 100+. The main attraction of the competition will be the Open events comprising Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles, with an addition of a Plate Championship for the losers in Men’s and Women’s Singles.
The opening ceremony will take place on April 21st at 9:00am, followed by the preliminary rounds, leading up to the climax on April 26 with the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The excitement will continue on April 27 with the highly anticipated semi-finals and final matches, followed by the Closing Ceremony to mark the culmination of this championship.
The main draw seeding will be determined based on SLB Ranking as of April 13, followed by the draw on April 16 at 11:00am at No.2, Cambridge Terrace, Colombo 7. Entries will close on April 10 at noon. Entries can be submitted online or by contacting Sadeesha Adithya on 0761759017 and further details of the tournament are available in the prospectus published in the SLB website.
A total prize money of Rs.750,000 for all events based on the number of entries will be on offer, in addition to trophies, medals and certificates guaranteed for winners, runners-up and semi-finalists of each event of the tournament. Junior winners will receive appropriate gifts instead of prize money, according to a decision taken by the tournament organisers. The tournament is sponsored by Mobil, Li Ning, McFoil, 3M and GAC.
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