Sports
Keep training uninterrupted, the biggest challenge for athletes in centenary year
Sri Lanka Athletics announces calendar for 2022
by Reemus Fernando
How to keep training uninterrupted amidst the Covid-19 pandemic to succeed at international events is the biggest problem the track and field athletes need to find answers to in the sport’s centenary year in 2022 as Sri Lanka Athletics announced a busy 2022 Competition calendar inclusive of three major international competitions yesterday.
Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships are the major international competitions that Sri Lanka Athletics has traditionally given priority to. The sport’s governing body which celebrates its centenary year in 2022 is ambitions about sending teams to all these international events.
However, track and field governing body is still struggling to complete the 2021 edition of the National Championship due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The Sri Lanka Athletics decided to conduct the 2021 Nationals in stages due to the pandemic. It held its first stage in April but had to post
pone the second stage on more than one occasion due to the pandemic.
When the governing body announced the Calendar for the year 2022 it also announced the dates for the remaining stage of the National Championship 2021. That will be held on October 30 and 31.
The Covid 19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to the aspirations of track and field athletes as lockdowns hampered their training and also prevented them from taking part in supportive minor international events in the region in both 2020 and 2021. While top athletes struggled to improve their world rankings due to the unavailability of quality international competitions, the bio secure environments for training were a luxury only the cricketers could enjoy.
Sri Lanka has several athletes who could excel at some of the above said international events and the vital Junior International events which will happen in 2022. The likes of Nilani Ratnayake who missed Olympic qualifying standards due to lack of competitions should be supported to achieve success at Asian level.
The athletes who missed Olympic Qualifying standards due to lack of international competitions will be eager to take part in these events in 2022 and the Asian Youth Championships, Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships are vital to keep juniors interested in track and field sports. But with Covid-19 pandemic still making it difficult for athletes to train safely in the country it will be incumbent upon sports authorities to make necessary arrangements for at least the athletes in the elite pools to train in bio secure environments.
While a coach of a junior athletics team could not travel with his athlete after being found positive to Covid-19 ahead of the World Junior Championships in July another coach of a Para athlete had to skip training ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics due to Covid 19. Meanwhile a number of sportsmen and women contacted Covid 19 while using the Sports Ministry’s hostels at Torrington during the last few months.
Such disappointments can be avoided if necessary arrangements are be made for selected athletics teams to train in bio secure bubbles.
Virat Kohli has communicated his desire to retire from Test cricket to the BCCI ahead of the big five-match series in England starting June 20, for which he is expected to be a part of the squad. ESPNcricinfo understands that Kohli has been having these conversations with officials of the BCCI for the past month or so.
If Kohli doesn’t change his mind, he will bring the curtain down on a glorious career that has spanned 14 years and included 123 Tests – 68 of them as captain – in which he has 9230 runs at an average of 46.85.
But it hasn’t been a particularly fruitful time in the format for Kohli of late. When he scored 100 not out in the Perth Test in November 2024, it was his first century in Tests since July 2023 (against West Indies in Port of Spain), and his average, 55.10 at its peak after he scored his career best of 254 not out vs South Africa in Pune in 2019, has been 32.56 over the last 24 months.
(Cricinfo)
The remainder of PSL 2025 has been postponed indefinitely. The PCB cited the “worsening of the situation” at the Pakistan-India border as the reason, saying the board had acted on advice from the Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The board said it had “sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home” and that was considered when making the decision.
The development came less than 24 hours after the PCB had announced that the remaining eight games of the PSL would be played in the UAE, without specifying the dates or the venues, with the expectation that it would take about a week to resume.
Overseas players as well as Pakistani players who currently hold visas to the UAE were scheduled to leave on Friday night, with the remaining visas being applied for over the weekend. That, however, has changed, and the teams have begun disbanding with immediate effect, with travel back home being arranged for foreign players.
There is no word yet on when, or if, the remaining games will be played. The postponement came hours after the IPL was temporarily suspended owing to the tensions between the two countries.
The PSL held an emergency meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, and involved the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi meeting with foreign players, who overwhelmingly expressed a desire to relocate the league to the UAE.
“The PCB recognises the efforts and support of its partners, franchises, participating players, broadcasters, sponsors, and organisers in having ensured the smooth conduct of the tournament thus far, however; cricket while being a unifying force and a source of joy, must take a respectful pause…” the PCB statement said.
[Cricinfo]
World Relays 2025
A ‘full strength Sri Lanka 4×400 metres mixed relay team’ will compete against formidable European powerhouses when they take part in the first heat of the relay on day one of the World Relays in Guangzhou, China on Saturday.
“We will field our best four for the heats,” said W.M.G. Thushara, the mamager cum coach of the Sri Lanka team in an interview with The Island after reaching Guangzhou yesterday.
There is one junior athlete in the six member team but Sri Lankan authorities have decided to field the full strength team in the heats.
“It will be Nadeesha Ramanayake, Nishendra Fernando, Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana as we are planning to produce our best performace,” Thushara said.
Ramanayake, Kumarage and Dharshana were part of the team that established a new national record in the mixed relay at the Asian Athletics Championship in 2023. Only missing member from that team is Tharushi Karunaratne.
Sri Lanka team will compete in the first heat where Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and hosts China are the others. The first two from the heats will directly qualify for the World Relays and also the World Championships to be held in Tokyo.
Sri Lanka fielded only the mixed relay team for the World Relays despite the men’s 4×400 team qualifying for the event. The World Relays starting today is the main qualifying competition for relay events at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
by Reemus Fernando
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