Sports
Waiting for the next Olympic hurdler
Tokyo Olympics – 7 days to go
By Reemus Fernando
Continued from yesterday
Hurdles as obstacles
A maximum of four athletes advance from each Zonal to the Provincial Competition where they experience their first proper 400 metres hurdles race. An athlete qualifying from the Provincial level will next compete in the All Island Schools Games Athletics Championship. The Sir John Tarbet Athletics Championship, the Sri Lanka Athletics’ Junior National Championship and District meets are the other meets where a schools hurdler could compete on proper hurdles. However, a vast majority of schoolchildren do not witness hurdles races at school level due to the unavailability of hurdles.
What about sports schools? Sadly many Sports Schools which have 400 metres tracks do not have enough hurdles to conduct proper 400 metres hurdles races. Ibbagamuwa Central, one of the Sports Schools from where the country’s most decorated female hurdler in the 100 metres hurdles hailed from, does not conduct 400 metres hurdles races. Even for 100 metres hurdles, they opt for just two lanes.
“Hurdles are a real headache for education officials who conduct athletics events at Divisional and Zonal level. If you are really interested in conducting a hurdles race you can certainly do that. It is not a big deal to collect 80 hurdles from where they are available. It is a matter of managing logistics. Maybe it is the lack of funds and manpower to complete the meet in two or three days that discourage officials from conducting it properly,” says a coach.
“There used to be a time when you could see hurdles set up at St. John Bosco ground, Hanwella all day around. That was the time when Rev. Fathers trained athletes. During that time Hanwella had the best hurdlers in the country. Children who pass by the hurdles would make attempts to clear the hurdlers. Those sights are rare nowadays,” says Saman Kumara, Sri Lanka Athletics statistician.
Setting up hurdles and removing them after training is a time consuming endeavour. Sports Instructors at schools that promote more than one sport find it difficult to leave hurdles at the ground for the next training session when the ground is also used for other sports.
However, dedicated coaches and their athletes have often overcome the unavailability of facilities. When St. Joseph’s Balika, Kegalle was producing the fastest female sprinters at school level nearly a decade ago A.D. Nandawathie’s trainees would carry hurdles from the school to the ground in Kegalle on foot. After the training session in the morning, they would return to school on foot carrying the hurdles. One of Nanda’s trainees, Amali Harshani went on to win at the national level. That was in the 100 metres hurdles. She had a wind-aided personal best of 14.08 seconds in 2012.
To be continued……..
Both the men’s and women’s cricket events at the LA 2028 Olympics are set to be six-team competitions, as approved by the Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday (April 9). Further, a total of 90 athlete quotas have been allotted to each gender, allowing each nation to name a 15-member squad.
As reported earlier, T20 Internationals have been designated as the format of choice for the competition. The venues are yet to be confirmed although New York is in the fray to host the matches.
It is unclear how the six participating nations will be determined and the issue of representation, in the cases of Great Britain and the West Indies, is yet to be addressed as well.
Cricket was last part of the Olympic Games in 1900, when it was contested by just two teams – Great Britain and France. Great Britain went on to win the only cricket Olympics Gold Medal thus far by winning what was a 2-day game.
Cricket has recently been a part of other international multi-sport events. Both men’s and women’s cricket competitions were part of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games whereas the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games featured an eight-team women’s competition.
(Cricbuzz)
The three-day Schools Relay Carnival will conclude at Diyagama today. Here are some action pictures from day two of the event on Thursday.
-
- St. Benedict’s dominated Under 20 4×800 metres
-
- (From left) Shadhen Ravihansa, Rohith Akshana, Manuwa Nethsara and Enok Dilshan of Rathnayake Central won the Under 18 boys’ 4×800 metres
-
- The quartet of St. Joseph Vaz’s College Wennappuwa (from left), Camidu Sandew, Maleesha Anuhas, Ruchira Daham and Kavindu Maleesha won the Under 16 boys’ 4×800 metres
-
- (From left) Nethmi Sadamaya, Githmi Nehara, Gihara Karunarathne and Sahasra Sithumini of Rathnayake Central Walala pose after winning the Under 16 girls’ 4x800m relay.
Rathnayake Central lead Under 18 4x800m relay.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
Karunaratne dropped from South Asian Championships
Veteran coach Susantha Fernando has questioned the credibility of the selection process of Sri Lanka Athletics after Harsha Karunaratne, the reigning national champion in the men’s 800 metres was dropped from the team for the up coming South Asian Athletics Championships.
The South Asian Athletics Championship will be held from May 3 to 5 in Ranchi, India. Unlike at previous editions, Sri Lanka Athletics has picked only one athlete per event for a majority of disciplines in a bid to cut costs.
Karunaratne who trains under Fernando was placed second in the 800 metres at the final selection trial. While the governing body has picked two athletes each for 100m, 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles, javelin throw and high jump, only one athlete each has been picked for all other events from 800 metres to 10000 m and other field events.
Fernando has requested the intervention of the sports minister to include Katunaratne in the team.
“Sri Lanka Athletics has sent two athletes each for the 800 metres for all South Asian Championships and South Asian Games since 1995. On all occations the governing body had picked athletes who had clocked sub 1:50 seconds. This will be the first time an athlete who had clocked sub 1:50 is not picked in the team,” Fernando has stated in a letter addressed to the sports minister.
Karunaratne, the elder brother of Asian Games gold medallist Tharushi, was pipped to the second place by G.K. Chathuranga at the selection trial held early last month. The two athletes were seperated only by miliseconds. While Chathuranga returned a time of 1:49.89 seconds, Karunaratne clocked 1:49.98 seconds.
Fernando has also stated that Karunaratne had recovered from a virus fever just a week prior to the selection trial.
When contacted on this regard an offical of Sri Lanka Athletics said that the governing body of the sport was reluctantly compelled to pick a pruned down team in a bid to reduce costs and all selection decisions were taken after careful consideration of the current rankings of the South Asian region in each discipline.
by Reemus Fernando
American Airlines planes bump wings at Washington airport
Fairly heavy rainfall of above 50 mm is likely at some places in Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts
Six dead after helicopter crashes in New York’s Hudson River
-
Business4 days agoColombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
Business6 days agoDaraz Sri Lanka ushers in the New Year with 4.4 Avurudu Wasi Pro Max – Sri Lanka’s biggest online Avurudu sale
-
Features5 days agoStarlink in the Global South
-
Business6 days agoNew SL Sovereign Bonds win foreign investor confidence
-
Features2 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part III
-
Features5 days agoModi’s Sri Lanka Sojourn
-
Midweek Review2 days agoInequality is killing the Middle Class
-
Features4 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part I