Sports
Nadeesha rises from Junior National 6th place to clinch Asian title
Nadeesha wins Asian Championship gold
by Reemus Fernando
More than a decade of hard work paid off for Nadeesha Ramanayake as the 28-year-old from Weeraketiya earned Sri Lanka its first Asian Championship 400 metres gold in 23 years on day two of the Asian Athletics Championship in Thailand on Thursday.
The athlete trained by W.G.M. Thushara clocked her personal best, 52.61 seconds to beat her rivals in the women’s 400 metres final yesterday. Sri Lanka’s last gold in this discipline came when Damayanthi Dharsha won both the 200m and 400m events with championship records in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2000.
At the end of day one Ramanayake had established her place as the favourite as she advanced to the final as the fastest from heats in the absence of defending champion and 2019 World Champion Salwar Eid Naser. The Bahraini athlete who is returning to the track this year after serving a suspension was the women’s 400 metres winner when the Asian Championship was last held in Doha where Ramanayake finished sixth.
Mishra Ashwarya of India and Soliewa Farida of Usbekistan were the others to have produced notable times in the heats. Yet, Ramanayake continued her form at the crucial moment to clinch gold beating Farida to second place. Ashwarya who had produced a sub 53 seconds feat in the heats failed to live up to expectations.
It was a remarkable achievement for an athlete who had not climbed a victory podium at the national level in her entire youth. Incidentally, when the sprinters who had shown the potential to win at the Asian level in Dharsha’s pet event were reigning at Junior National Championships Ramanayake was just making numbers at long-distance events.
When St. Joseph’s Balika, Kegalle sprinter Kumari Ratnayake won the Under 18 girls’ 400 metres final at the Junior National Championships in 2011, Ramanayake representing Rajapaksa Central, Weeraketya made an inconspicuous debut placing sixth in the Under 18 girls’ 3,000 metres.
Later she took up the 800 metres under Thushara’s guidance and won a medal at the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships. She played second fiddle to both her contemporaries and seniors for several years before finally earning her place as a formidable 400 metres sprinter through sheer dedication and hard work. By the time she qualified for the Asian Championship this year, she had overtaken Menaka Wickramasinghe to be placed third in the list of all-time fastest athletes in the women’s 400 metres in Sri Lanka.
At the last Asian Championships in Doha, she was part of the 4×400 metres team that went on to break the national record in the relay final where the team finished just outside the podium. Now having accomplished a remarkable achievement in the individual event she will be vying for medals in both the women’s 4×400 metres and the 4×400 metres mixed relay.
Shammi Silva has once again taken guard at the top of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), securing a fourth consecutive term as President at the Annual General Meeting, held amidst much fanfare at Colombo’s Cinnamon Grand Hotel yesterday.
Already calling the shots as President of the Asian Cricket Council, Silva’s crowning achievement in recent years has been bringing the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup to Sri Lankan shores. The marquee tournament will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India next year, a feather in the cap for the country’s cricket administrators.
Silva’s administration has made a concerted effort to bridge the yawning gap between domestic and international cricket. One of the bold strokes in this innings has been trimming the number of First-Class teams – a move aimed at upping the quality and sharpening the edge of domestic cricket.
SLC Ex-Co also played a straight bat when it comes to developing cricket beyond Colombo’s city limits. High Performance Centres have sprung up across the outstations, rolling out the red carpet for raw talent from the hinterlands, who had previously been left in the pavilion.
The school cricket circuit too has been given a shot in the arm, with infrastructure development and skill enhancement taking centre stage. By strengthening the grassroots, the current administration hopes to widen the talent pool and unearth future stars of the game.
SLC’s balance sheet tells its own story – healthy and in the black. Over the past five years, the board’s financial stability has not only benefited cricket, but has also allowed it to lend a helping hand to other sports disciplines, at the request of the Ministry of Sports.
With over three decades of experience under his belt as a sports administrator, Shammi Silva is the long-serving President of the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC), one of the game’s oldest institutions in the country.
The 64th AGM was largely a case of “same XI, new season,” with only one notable change to the playing field – Secretary Mohan de Silva making way for seasoned campaigner Bandula Dissanayake. No stranger to the inner workings of SLC, Dissanayake has previously chaired the Tournament and Umpires Committees, and brings a wealth of experience to the table.
Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa and former First-Class player Ravin Wickramaratne retained their Vice-President slots, while Sujeewa Godaliyadda continues to hold the Treasurer’s post. Chryshantha Kapuwatta and Lasantha Wickremasinghe will once again don the hats of Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, respectively.
The election, part of SLC’s biannual cycle, was overseen and greenlit by the Election Committee chaired by retired Court of Appeal Justice Malani Gunaratne.
Vidyaloka College fought back on the back of a valuable century by Nimesh Aavinda to pull off two wickets victory over Kingswood in the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘B’ cricket tournament final played at Saliyapura, Anuradhapura on Monday.
Vidyaloka had a deficit of 36 runs in the first innings but a combined effort helped them restrict Kingswood to 161 runs in the second essay. They were left with a target of 198 runs to chase. And they achieved it with Nimesh Aavinda top scoring with 115 runs.
Scores
Kingswood
227 all out in 83.3 overs (Chanul Kodituwakku 33, Aadil Sheriff 69, Kavija Gamage 25, Nikeshala Nanayakkara 56; Seniru Ninduwara 4/74, Lidula Nuwanga 2/58, Nimesh Aavinda 2/48, Pulindu Chamuditha 2/19) and 161 all out in 65.3 overs (Kavija Gamage 57, Nikeshala Nanayakkara 45; Seniru Ninduwara 2/45, Pulindu Chamuditha 2/07)
Vidyaloka
191 all out in 79.3 overs (Lidula Nuwanga 81, Seniru Ninduwara 34, Tharusha Jayamith 23; Kavija Gamage 4/63, Upadi Jayawardane 2/41) and 200 for 8 in 48.3 overs( Nimesh Aavinda 114, Lidula Nuwanga 34, Seniru Ninduwara 28; Kavija Gamage 3/80, Dominsara Peiris 2/51)
by Reemus Fernando
There was a growing sense of uncertainty surrounding the hosting of the 120th edition of the Lovers’ Quarrel Big Match after Richmond College raised concerns over an attempt by Mahinda College to field a newly recruited player in the team at the historic match which was scheduled to commence on Thursday.
Richmond College authorities have informed Mahinda that they would pullout from the match if the newly recruited player who played for St. Aloysius’ in the just concluded Under 19 cricket tournament is included in the Big Match team.
According to sources Mahinda College have recruited St. Aloysius’ skipper Charya Paranavithana at the end of the Under 19 cricket tournament and are yet to register him under their name with Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association. They have included the player in the Big Match squad.
A source close to Mahinda said that though the player is included in the squad he was not certain to be in the playing XI.
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