by Reemus Fernando

In an Olympic year, sprinter Aruna Dharshana’s sub 45 seconds in the 400 metres and Tharushi Karunaratne’s 600 metres Asian record rank were among the country’s best moments of track and field sports in the passing year.

There were unique moments that captured the imagination of the track and field fraternity but among them the aforesaid performances by the highest ranked male and female athletes of Sri Lanka standout.

Sprinter Aruna Dharshana and Tharushi Karunaratne are the country’s highest ranked male and female athletes respectively according to Word Athletics year end rankings.

The men’s 400 metres had been the country’s top medal winning discipline at international stage but Sri Lanka had been waiting for years to witness a sub 45 seconds feat in the 400 metres. Since the retirement of Sugath Thilakaratne no Sri Lankan had come closer to breaking his national record of 44.61 seconds established quarter century ago. The closest to Thilakaratne’s mark was Kalinga Kumarage’s 45.07 seconds feat at Diyagama in September last year.

Dharshana’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna was hopeful that his charge would produce a sub 45 seconds performance prior to the Olympics. He was looking forward to earn direct qualifying standards but the opportunity came at the Paris Olympics after earning the spot through world rankinga. Dharshana clocked 44.99 seconds in the heats to earn a historic semi-final berth at the Olympics. He bettered the performance with a 44.75 feat only to be disappointed when he was disqualified for a lane infringement in the semi-final.

The 25-year old earned the admiration of fans and fellow athletes alike.

“Your achievement has ignited a spark in the young generation. Inspire them to dream big and strive for greatness,” said sprinter Yupun Abeykoon in a post.

Former Ratnayake Central Walala athlete Tharushi Karunaratne had a disappointing Olympics but her achievement on her way to achieving qualifying standards for the quadrennial event will remain arguably as one of the best performances by a Sri Lanka athlete.

By the start of the Olympic year the best 600 metres performance by a female athlete in Asia belonged to Japan’s Ayano Shiomi. Her 1:28.06 feat was the Asian record of the seldom-run discipline. After a couple of failures in her Olympic preparation Tharushi created history when she erased the Asian Continental record to win the second place of the women’s 600 metres at the Bilbao Reunion International, a World Athletics bronze label event in Spain.

The record-breaking 1:24.84 seconds performance helped the athlete trained by Susantha Fernando to leapfrog to the 47th position in the ‘Road to Paris 24’ rankings after being in the 63rd position. Currently, Karunaratne is the second ranked Asian athlete in the 800 metres behind Bahrain’s Nelly Jepkosgei. The Kenyan born athlete has a best of 1:24.94 in the 600.

Olympian Dilhani Lekamge had a memorable outing in Korea prior to the Paris event. She cleared a distance of 57.95 metres to win a bronze in the women’s javelin throw at the Asian Throwing Championship in Mokpo.

At the same event, Rumesh Tharanga hurled the javelin to a record-breaking distance of 85.45 metres. That feat shattered not only the Sri Lanka national record but also the championship record as he won the Asian gold. He missed the Olympic qualifying mark by just five centimeters but earned the admiration of many as his effort was ranked among the top ten in the world.

That performance is the third best in Asia this year. It is ranked only behind legendary Olympic medallists Arshad Nadeem’s 92.97m and Neeraj Chopra’s 89.49 metres.

Sri Lanka also enjoyed success at the Asian Relay Championships this year. The most satisfying moment at the event held in Hongkong was arguably the gold medal victory by Aruna Dharshana, Pasindu Kodikara, Dinuka Deshan and Kalinga Kumarage in the men’s 4×400 metres where they beat India.

Sri Lanka may not have won medals at global stage but there is a ray of hope as the country’s hardworking athletes and their coaches have continued to produce inspiring performances in 2024.

by Rex Clementine

Boxing Day Tests are the crown jewels of the cricketing calendar, and where better to soak it all in than Melbourne—the undisputed sporting capital of the world. The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) has a magnetic charm that few venues can rival. It’s a coliseum of dreams, and this year, it delivered drama that had fans on the edge of their seats.

Enter Jasprit Bumrah, a bowler with pace as awkward as a drunk uncle on the dance floor, who tormented the Aussies with his unplayable bounce. The scene grew even more intriguing when Australia threw a curveball by debuting a 19-year-old rookie.

‘If seasoned campaigners can’t handle Bumrah, what chance does a teenager have?’ many wondered aloud. But this kid, Konstas, wasn’t one to tiptoe into the limelight. Instead, he swaggered his way in, flicking the world’s top-ranked bowler for his maiden runs, scooping his first boundary with cheeky audacity, and topping it off with a reverse scoop for six. Bumrah had rattled the top order, but Konstas wrestled the momentum back Australia’s way with a performance as bold as it was brilliant.

We should have been celebrating this young dynamo, but cricket, being cricket, had other plans. Instead, the spotlight shifted to a petty spat – Virat Kohli’s shoulder barge on the young debutant. It was as unsightly as a poorly brewed cup of tea. If cricket had a version of a red card, Kohli would’ve deserved it, along with a hefty fine and a one-match suspension. Yet, Match Referee Andy Pycroft, wielding authority like a soft schoolteacher, let him off with a mere slap on the wrist.

This sets a dangerous precedent. If shoulder barging now only costs you a 20% match fee, what’s stopping others from following suit? The guardians of the game had a golden opportunity to make an example of Kohli – perhaps even bench him for the Sydney Test – and draw a hard line: aggression is fine, but cricket isn’t a contact sport. Instead, they let this moment slip through their fingers like a poorly caught edge.

Fans have long whispered about the double standards in cricket’s disciplinary corridors: one rule for India, another for the rest. And who can blame them? In today’s cricketing landscape, no one wants to poke the bear that is the BCCI. The Aussies themselves, usually happy to fan the flames of controversy, seemed content to sweep this under the rug.

Pycroft, a veteran Match Referee with over 100 Tests to his name, might have been trying to tread carefully. After all, the BCCI has a history of flexing its muscles to get its way. Remember Mike Denness. The former England captain had the audacity to sanction six Indian players in 2001 for excessive appealing, ball tampering, and bringing the game into disrepute. The result? The players walked free, but Denness was unceremoniously shown the door. When India threatened to abandon the tour, South Africa, the hosts, bent over backwards to accommodate them. The ICC stood by Denness in principle, but in practice, India called the shots.

History repeated itself in 2008 during the infamous Monkeygate saga in Perth. Match Referee Mike Procter handed Harbhajan Singh a three-match ban for allegedly making a racial slur. India, as predictable as ever, threatened to pull out of the tour. The ban was overturned on appeal, leaving Procter looking like a deer in headlights. Not only did he lose face, but he was also quietly blacklisted from officiating in the IPL.

India’s rise as a cricketing superpower is something to marvel at. Their talent pipeline runs deeper than an oil well, and their financial clout is unmatched. But it’s stunts like Kohli’s that make even moderate fans grit their teeth in frustration. Kohli may have escaped a suspension, but his antics have left a sour taste. While his loyal fanbase cheers on his firebrand behaviour, others are quietly hoping for his swan song in Indian colours.

Off the field, the Kohli debate has drawn a motley crew of former cricketers who are now preaching the gospel of playing in the “right spirit.” Michael Vaughan, Justin Langer, and Ricky Ponting are leading the charge. But before we crown them as saints, let’s not forget the skeletons rattling in their cupboards. Each of these gentlemen has, at one point or another, dragged the game’s reputation through the mud. Their sudden transformation into moral guardians reeks of the classic “poacher turned gamekeeper” scenario.