by Reemus Fernando

Sri Lanka will field three athletes including sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe and hurdler Kaveesha Bandara for next week’s World Indoor Athletics Championship which will be held in Nanjing, China.

Sprinters Chamod Yodasinghe and Kalinga Kumarage and hurdler Kaveesha Bandara are the only Sri Lankan athletes to have reached qualifying standards for the global event according to Sri Lanka Athletics.

It is the first time all three athletes are competing at a global event at senior level. While sprint veteran Kumarage has competed at major international events including the Asian Game, the Indoor World Championship is the first major international senior level event at which both Bandara and Yodasinghe are taking part.

Yodasinghe who has the 2028 Olympics as his long term goal had this year’s Asian Championship as his major goal for the year but his impressive 6.63 seconds finish in the 60 metres at last month’s National Short Track Championship has positioned him in the 36th place in the World Athletics’ Road to Nanjing rankings to be eligible for the event.

Hurdler Bandara is ranked 31st in the World Athletics’ Road to Nanjing rankings by virtue of his 7.80 seconds performance at the National Short Track Championship held in February.

Of the three athletes Kalinga Kumarage is the highest ranked Sri Lankan in the ‘Road to Nanjing rankings’. In the 400 metres Kumarage is ranked 17th for his 45.93 seconds feat achieved at a championship in Japan last year.

Sri Lanka has not been a regular participant at these championships. The country had to skip major athletics events in the recent past due to the difficulty in obtaining visas for events taking place in Europe and the USA.

With the Indoor World Championship taking place in China the three athletes will be eager to produce their best in a bid to improve their world rankings in a world championship year.

Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Pre Qualifying Tournament

Sri Lanka boys reached the semi-finals of the Junior Davis Cup Asia Oceania Pre Qualifying Tournament as an unbeaten team. They are set to meet Indonesia today in the semi-final in the tournament conducted in Kunchi Malaysia.

Sri Lanka team booked their semi-final spot with a convincing 2-0 win over Mongolia in the quarter-final where Aahil Kaleel (beat Zolbadar Urnukh 6-4, 6-1) and Saha Kapilasena (beat Zolbayar Ganbold 6-0, 7-5) emerged victorious.

In the other encounters Sri Lanka recorded dominant victories. They beat Bhutan 3-0 and Maldives 3-0.

In the encounter against Bhutan, Mayooran Kubheran (beat Jurmi Khedrup 6-1, 6-2) and Saha Kapilasena (beat Dorj Tshering 6-0, 6-0) won the singles before Aahil Kaleel and Mayooran Kubheran joined to win the doubles with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Dorj Tshering and Urmi Khedrup.

In the matches against Maldives, Mayooran Kubherane (beat Mohamed Salaam 6-0, 6-1) and Aahil Kaleel (beat Neyaz Adam Aal 6-0, 6-0) won the singles before the latter was joined by Saha Kapilasena (beat Mohamed Salaam and Neyaz Adam Aal) to register victory in the doubles.

ITF Junior Circuit J30 Week 1 Tournament

Dinara de Silva reached the quarter-final stage of the ITF Junior Circuit J30 week 1 tournament with a 6-3, 6-0 win over India’s Sanmita Lokesh at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts on Thursday.

Earlier in the tournament Dinara beat Eyu Yoshida of Japan 6-1, 6-0.

The tournament which commenced on Monday is set to conclude in Sunday.

(Pic by Kamal Wanniarachchi)