Sports

Record breaking Yupun eyes Olympic qualifying standards

Published

5 years ago

2020/09/10

by Reemus Fernando

Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon shattered the Sri Lanka National record and the South Asian men’s 100 metres record, offering glimpse of hope to end more than two decades of wait for a Sri Lankan champion to feature in an Olympics in the glamorous sprint event.

Former Pannala National School and St. Joseph Vaz College athlete clocked 10.16 seconds to break Himasha Eshan’s national record at a championship in Germany where he beat a host of German sprinters to win the 100 metres dash on Tuesday.

Congratulatory massages were a galore in the social media from midnight Tuesday as the track and field fraternity took stock on the capabilities of a 4×100 metres relay team at regional international level and Abeykoon’s own chances of qualifying for the quadrennial event.

In an interview with The Island Abeykoon thanked every one who had helped him reach where he is today and stressed that earning Olympic qualifying standards was his goal.

He said that he missed two months of training due to Covid-19 pandemic and commenced training in July. His two coaches Maurizio Raparelli and Claudio Licciardello had prepared plans to asses his strengths this season and he was reaching the peak.

He had been in Italy for five years now and had dedicated his time fully for training while his expenses had been bone by his parents.

“I would like to thank those who helped me on my way to achieving the national record. My coaches, my parents, Gen. Palitha Fernando, the president of Sri Lanka Athletics who had been in constant contact,” said Abeykoon.

“I was congratulated by the new Sports Minister in the morning. It is the first time that I received any communication from the Ministry. I hope country’s athletes will get the necessary support.”

“From now on I will target achieving Olympic qualifying standards,” said Abeykoon.

The 25-year-old had produced a notable feat days ago before smashing the national record established by Eshan last year.

With Abeykoon now inching closer to the tough Olympic qualifying mark, pressure will be on home based athletes like Eshan, Suranjaya and Yodasinghe to earn the rare berth.

“This pressure will help Sri Lanka improve standards in the 100 metres and we will be able to field formidable relay teams for international events,” Sri Lanka Athletics statistician Saman Kumara told The Island.

Incidentally, Abeykoon who was placed third behind Himasha Eshan and Vinoj Suranjaya at the National Championships in 2019 produced impressive performances ahead of the last South Asian Games. Sri Lanka Athletics had taken a policy decision to feature only the winners of the National Championships for individual events of the regional Games thus he could not featuring in the 100 metres. He was selected only as a member of the relay team for the South Asian Games where he anchored the team to gold.

A Sri Lankan 100 metres sprinter has not competed at an Olympics since the former champions, Asian Games medallist Sriyantha Dissanayake in Barcelona 1992 and Chinthaka de Zoysa in 1996 Atlanta Olympics represented the country. There had been a few national sprinters, who had given much hope early in their careers but the ever improving standards during the Bolt-dominated era made the country wait for more than quarter of a century. With the World Athletics raising the qualifying standards for the 100 metres dash to tough 10.05 seconds for the postponed Tokyo event, not many analysts could bet on a Sri Lankan sprinter for the coveted berth. But now with Abeykoon showing signs of vast improvement under a foreign coach, local authorities are left to keep their fingers crossed at the prospect of winning a 100 metres spot for Olympics.

Abeykoon who left for Italy after his schooling was coached by Chaminda Sampath Weerasinghe when he was at Pannala National School and St. Joseph Vaz College.

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Sports

Sri Lanka series vital World Cup tune-up for Pakistan – Agha

Published

2 hours ago

2026/01/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha and his Sri Lankan counterpart Dasun Shanaka pose with the trophy ahead of the three match T20I series in Dambulla on Tuesday.

Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha says the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka will serve as a dress rehearsal ahead of the T20 World Cup, with the former champions set to play all their tournament games in the island.

The series gets underway in Dambulla on Wednesday, with the remaining two matches scheduled for Friday and Sunday at the same venue.

With diplomatic relations between Pakistan and India strained, Pakistan will play the World Cup under the hybrid model, featuring exclusively in Sri Lanka. Should they go the distance, both their semi-final and final will be staged in Colombo.

Although Dambulla is not a World Cup venue, Agha believes the series offers his side a golden opportunity to play in similar conditions and test their bench strength.

“We are playing all our World Cup games in Sri Lanka and this series will help us get familiar with the conditions,” Agha told reporters on Tuesday. “We do travel here often, but playing a competitive series just before the World Cup is ideal, especially as some of our players haven’t played much cricket here.”

Pakistan will be without several marquee names, with Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan and Haris Rauf currently plying their trade in Australia’s Big Bash League.

“They are mega stars and they’ve done well for us. We will miss them, no doubt,” Agha said. “But this is also an opportunity to try out new players and hopefully they will put their hands up.”

One boost for Pakistan is the return of all-rounder Shadab Khan, back in action after being sidelined since June last year with injury.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will be led by Dasun Shanaka, who has been handed the captaincy through to the World Cup. The skipper admitted there are areas to fix after a mixed run in recent months.

“Our top order has done well in the last few series, but we need to sort out the middle order,” Shanaka said. “There were a few lapses and we are keen to address them before the World Cup. One key area was our strike rate between overs six and 15. We’ve worked on it during training and now we need to execute it in the middle.”

Shanaka also explained the recall of all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva, who returns to the T20 setup after a two-year absence.

“We needed someone who can steady the innings,” Shanaka said. “If he can hold things together, others can play their shots around him. He also gives us a bowling option and in our conditions spin is key.”

Pakistan Squad:

Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmad, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan and Usman Tariq.

Sri Lanka Squad:

Dasun Shanaka (captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushan Hemantha, Traveen Mathew, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana, Nuwan Thushara, Eshan Malinga.

Sports

SSC-Yeti Tennis Tourney from January 9

Published

2 hours ago

2026/01/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

From left: Malik Perera (CEO, Yeti), Nishelli Perera (Co-founder, Yeti), Dr. Dilshan Balasuriya (Co-founder, Yeti), Chammika De Silva (Secretary, SSC Tennis) and Asiri Iddamalgoda (Chairman, SSC Tennis)

The Yeti-SSC Open Tennis Championship, one of the most prestigious and long-standing national tennis tournaments, will be held from January 9 to 25 at the SSC Courts in Maitland Place.

The 2026 Yeti-SSC Open Championship will feature a comprehensive line-up of events including Boys’ and Girls’ Singles and Doubles (Under-12 to Under-18), Men’s and Women’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles as well as Veterans categories (Over 35, 45 and 55).

The SSC Open Championships are officially recognised as a Category 1 National Ranking Tournament sanctioned by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) and traditionally mark the commencement of Sri Lanka’s annual competitive tennis calendar.

The 2026 edition is expected to draw more than 1,000 junior and senior participants, further reinforcing its position as one of the country’s most eagerly awaited tennis events.

The tournament is set to showcase thrilling performances from leading national players including the current Men’s national champion Apna Perera, Women’s national champion Dinara De Silva, Davis Cup players Ashen Silva and Thehan Wijemanne, as well as top-ranked juniors such as Ganuka Fernando (Boys’ Under-18) and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi(Girls’ Under-18), among many other prominent competitors.

Sports

Seba force a draw after Joes dominate

Published

2 hours ago

2026/01/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

Under 19 Cricket

An unbeaten century in the first innings and a half century in the second by Adesh Almeida and valuable contributions in the second innings from Koshendra Fernando and Chamath Wellalage helped St. Sebastians’ force a draw to their Under 19 encounter against St. Joseph’s at Moratuwa on Tuesday.

‎Nushan Perera and Vishwa Peiris were responsible for most of the damage as they took theJoes almost close to an innings victory.

‎Forced to follow on, the Sebs were heading for a possible defeat but number ten batsman Navinu Fernando kept his cool to bat through to the finish. He faced more than 20 balls to score four runs not out.

‎Match Results

‎Sebs force a draw at Moratuwa

‎Scores

‎St. Joseph’s 344 all out in 79.1 overs

(Yenula Danthanarayana 74, Aveesha Samash 52, Rishma Amarasinghe 90, Chethina Kavinda 70, Dilpa Ruwanaka 28; Koshendra Fernando 5/115, Shenash Hashein 3/51, Navinu Fernando 2/65)

‎St. Sebastians’ 37 for 3 overnight 192 all out in 59.1 overs (Adesh Almeida 105n.o., Koshendra Fernando 45; Nushan Perera 6/38, Disinu Samarasinghe 2/68,

‎Vishwa Peiris 2/58) and 151 for 9 in 54 overs (Chamath Wellalage 33, Adesh Almeida 50, Koshendra Fernando 22; Nushan Perera 3/59, Vishwa Peiris 6/50)

‎Petes earn first innings points against Royal at Bambalapitiya

‎Scores

‎Royal 347 all out in 80 overs

(Rehan Peiris 125, Thevindu Wewalwala 20, Manuth Dasanayake 71, Himaru Deshan 58; Thenura Dissanayake 2/74, Janith Panditharathne 6/103) and 71 for no loss in 22 overs

‎St. Peter’s 54 for 2 overnight 361 for 6 in 80 overs

(Asadisa de Silva 134, Shavidu Silva 53, Joshua Sebastian 93, Enosh Peterson 31n.o., Sadeesha Silva 33n.o.; Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi 3/50, Ramiru Perera 2/98)

‎

‎No decision at Asgiriya

‎Scores

‎Trinity 153 all out in 52.3 overs (Praveen Mithila 47, Santhosh Kritheekshan 34; Geeth Sandaruwan 3/33, Thenuja Rashmin 3/35, Venura Kaveethra 2/34)

‎Mahanama 5 for 1 overnight 101 for 3 in 37 overs

(Venura Kaveethra 42n.o., Sanul Weerarathne 32n.o., Kaushika Thilakarathne 19)

‎

‎Cambrians take first innings honours against Nalanda at Campbell Place

‎Scores

‎Nalanda 226 all out in 79 overs

(Nadul Jayalath 25, Santhul Wijerathna 46, Nemindu Akmeemana 27, Osanda Pamuditha 66, Dunitha Anusara 40; Nadul Aponso 6/53, Nethul Anuhas 4/67) and 101 for 7 in 33 overs (Shehan Ashein 5/20)

‎Prince of Wales 50 for no loss overnight 303 for 9 in 80 overs

(Palingu Perera 33, Suwas Fernando 63, Oshan de Silva 43, Gaveesha Fernando 59, Pasan Cooray 51; Osanda Pamuditha 2/32, Malsha Fernando 2/65) (RF)

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