Sports

A historic moment for Rasara at Asian Athletics Championship

Published

1 year ago

2025/05/4

Rasara Wijesuriya will be competing in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Asian Athletics Championships later this month.

From fighting hemoglobin defdeficiency to creating national records

Kelaniya University undergraduate Rasara Wijesuriya is set to become the first Sri Lankan female athlete to compete in the two longest track events at the Asian Athletics Championship outside Sri Lanka. The athlete trained by veteran coach Sajith Jayalal established a new national record in the 10,000 metres in February this year prompting track and field authorities to shortlist her for the May 27-31 event taking place in Gumi, South Korea. Incidentally, it will be her first competition outside the country after the postponement of the South Asian Athletics Championship for which she was first selected.

“It is an exciting prospect as I have not competed outside Sri Lanka,” Rasara told The Sunday Island.

Hailing from Ampara, Rasara first reached national level when she won the 800m and 1500m at the Eastern Province Schools Athletics championships following which she received a sports scholorship at Ratnayake Central Walala for her A/L studies. However, at Walala she was diagnosed with a hemoglobin deficiency and had to stop training on medical advice.

“I did not train from February to August that year. I think the hemoglobin deficiency was due to lack of nutrition. I started training under Sajith Sir in 2023,” replied the 22 year old.

It is remarkable to note an athlete who had to stop training for low hemoglobin counts improving in a short time to shatter national records in gruelling long distance events.

In February, Rasara broke US based athlete Hiruni Wijayaratne’s 10,000m national record (33:55.04 secs) with a feat of 33:39.60 seconds.

From the early 90s the Sri Lanka National record of the 10,000m had remained with Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena until Hiruni erased it in the last decade. The record breaking feat in February has firmly established Rasara as the athlete to beat in every distance from 5000m to Cross Country races in Sri Lanka. At the Asian level she will have a tough ask with seasoned runners of the region and African born distance runners competing for Middle Eastern country joining the frey.

Some of Sri Lanka’s legendary athletes have been associated with the 5000m and the 10,000m success at Asian level. In his day S.L.B Rosa turned tables on Japanese favourites to win a gold double in these events at the Asian Games. But at the Asian Championships, the flagship event organised by the regional federation no male athlete has won a medal in any of these events. Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena became the first athlete to win a medal for Sri Lanka in these events when she clocked 34 minutes and 47 seconds to finish second in the 10,000 m at the 2003 edition in Manila.

Not many Sri Lakan female athletes pursuing long distance events have succeeded outside Sri Lanka. In fact Sri Lanka had not fielded female athletes for the gruelling events at the Asian Championships untill the country hosted the biennial event in 2002.

As the host country, Sri Lanka had the luxury of fielding three athletes each for every discipline. While D.A. Inoka competed in both the 5000m and the 10,000m, Sujeewa Nilmini made her Championship debut in the 10,000m in Colombo. According to Sri Lanka Athletics statistics H.M.W.K. Herath (5,000m), Kanchanamala Udagedara (5,000m) and M.A. Chandrawathie (10,000m) were the others to have competed for the hosts.

That was the only occation when more than one female athlete competed for Sri Lanka in these disciplnes. That was also the only occation one female athlete (D.A. Inoka) competed in both events. With Sri Lanka Athletics opting for medal winning standards to send athletes for overseas events in recent times not many athletes got opportunities to compete at Asian level in the longest track events. Rasara will be aiming to make her overseas debut a memmorable one.

by Reemus Fernando

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Sineth Jayawardena, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth in Sri Lanka squad for Pakistan T20Is

Published

7 hours ago

2026/10/2

Priyan

Vijayakanth Viyaskanth celebrates a wicket with his team-mates [SLC]

Opening batter Sineth Jayawardena has charged into the Sri Lanka T20I squad for the series against Pakistan, while Vijayakanth Viyaskanth has claimed the legspinner’s spot in the absence of the injured Wanindu Hasaranga. Seam-bowling allrounder Chamindu Wickremesinghe has also been named, as has batter Sahan Arachchige, while seamer Binura Fernando makes a return.

Omitted from the the squad were the likes of batter Charith Asalanka, fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka, ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Rathnayake, and batting allrounder Janith Liyanage.

Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera was named in the squad, but his participation is subject to fitness.

Jayawardena, 21, has got his call-up because of an outstanding recent run in domestic T20s. In the past month, he has struck 101 off 52 and 82 off 32 for Tamil Union Cricket Club in the club T20 competition. He has played a single T20I, at the ongoing Asiad, but otherwise has never been part of a full-strength Sri Lanka side.

Others, such as Wickramasinghe, Arachchige, and Viyaskanth have earned their call-ups through years of performance at domestic level. Each of these players has appeared in T20 internationals for Sri Lanka before, but with the national team having had little success in this format in 2026, this inclusion represents their best chance yet to embed themselves within the side.

The three T20Is, which are all set to be played in Rawalpindi, will begin on October 9.

Sri Lanka squad :
Kamil Mishara, Sineth Jayawardena, Kusal Mendis (capt.), Lahiru Udara, Sahan Arachchige, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, Eshan Malinga, Dushmantha Chameera (subject to fitness)

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Bronze at stake as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka look to bring cheer to Asian Games contingents

Published

9 hours ago

2026/10/2

Priyan

Litton Das will hope to end his barren run of scores across formats [Cricinfo]

At the end of a wretched week in Nisshin, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have something real to play for: an Asian Games bronze.

Both teams have a point to prove. Bangladesh recovered well from a poor start in their semi-final against Pakistan, thanks to Towhid Hridoy’s efforts with the bat, but their bowlers couldn’t defend 111 in a 13-overs-a-side game, and Mustafizur Rahman was taken to the cleaners in one of his rare poor outings in T20Is.

But at least they ran Pakistan close. In the other semi-final, India ran riot over Sri Lanka, bowling them out for 45. Sri Lanka had a second-string side on the field, but they wouldn’t have bargained for the basic mistakes they made, like the three run-outs in their innings.

Bangladesh, who can call on most of their first-choice players, start the third-place match as clear favourites, but the testing conditions at Nisshin can even up contests that look one-sided on paper. And both teams will have the motivation of bringing joy to contingents that have endured mostly barren Asian Games campaigns.

After a run-less Australia tour where Litton Das made three ducks in a row in the Test series, he was out for 2 against Pakistan. Litton faced just three balls, off which he attempted two reverse-sweeps, the second of them costing him his wicket. It was a perplexing innings on a pitch that offered a lot of turn and awkward bounce. Sometimes it’s hard to say if a batter is really out of form when he’s made a string of low scores, but Litton, who has led Bangladesh impressively in this format over the last couple of years, will want to break out of this run quickly.

Sahan Arachchige couldn’t quite muster up a captain’s performance against India, especially after his top three batters fell for ducks. He scored 9 before falling to a sweep shot against Axar Patel. He had earlier taken two wickets with his offbreaks. The 30-year-old allrounder now has the chance to put together a better show and inspire his team to the bronze.

Both teams could test their bench strength in the bronze-medal match.

Sri Lanka (probable): Sineth Jayawardena, Lasith Croospulle, Sohan de Livera (wk), Nuwanidu Fernando, Sahan Arachchige (capt), Ashen Bandara, Chamika Karunaratne, Wanuja Sahan, Tharindu Ratnayake, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Binura Fernando.

Bangladesh (probable): Tanzid Hasan, Saif Hassan, Litton Das (capt), Parvez Hossain Emon (wk), Towhid Hridoy (c), Mosaddek Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Aliss Al Islam/Nasum Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman/Hasan Mahmud.

[Ceicinfo]

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Wanderers to host 2027 men’s ODI World Cup final as well as India vs Pakistan

Published

9 hours ago

2026/10/2

Priyan

Australia are the ODI World Cup defending champions [Cricinfo]

The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg will host the 2027 ODI World Cup final, as it did in 2003, as well as the marquee match between India and Pakistan on October 10 at next year’s tournament. Wanderers, South Africa’s biggest ground with a capacity of over 30,000, has been preferred over Newlands in Cape Town, an iconic ground because of its mountain backdrop.

Newlands will instead host the opening match between India and defending champions Australia on October 7. So, a re-match of the 2023 final kicks off the group stage of the 14th edition of the tournament. Prior to that, the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek will stage the Super Series, a three-team preliminary round which will decide which side makes it to the 12-team main event. Newlands gets a semi-final as well on November 17, with the other knockout game scheduled to take place in SuperSport Park in Tshwane (Centurion) on November 18. Zimbabwe, the co-hosts, are getting five games in the World Cup group stage and they play all of them at home.

The 12 teams – two of whom have yet to be decided – will be divided into two groups of six. Afghanistan, Australia, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and one of the qualifiers make up Group A. Bangladesh, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the other qualifier make up Group B. The two qualifiers will come from a 10 team tournament early next year, with the winner advancing to the group stage and the losing finalist and two losing semi-finalists to play the Super Series. A venue for the qualifiers has yet to be established but it is likely to be played either in South Africa or Namibia. The top eight teams besides the co-hosts in the ICC rankings on September 30 this year gained automatic qualification to the World Cup.

The World Cup will be staged between October 2 – to commemorate the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, who spent two decades working as a lawyer in South Africa – and will conclude on November 21. The semi-finals and the final will have a reserve day.

South Africa, the co-host in group B, begin their campaign against New Zealand – a re-match of the 2026 T20 World Cup semi-final – at Newlands on October 9. Zimbabwe, the co-host in group A, will face Afghanistan in Bulawayo on October 11 to start their journey.

The top three teams of each group will move into the Super 7 phase, with the better fourth-place finisher across the two groups taking the seventh spot. Several teams already have their designations for the Super 7 phase and there is a chance of a second India vs Pakistan game in Cape Town on November 7.

A1: India
A2: Australia
A3: Pakistan
AB4: England
B1: New Zealand
B2: South Africa
B3: Sri Lanka

If either Bangladesh or Afghanistan or any other team who are not seeded, get through their groups, they will assume seeding of the seeded team that gets knocked out.

In addition to hosting the preliminary round of the World Cup, Windhoek will host three group games, two of them involving 2019 champions England. The newly constructed Mosi-oa-Tunya Stadium in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe got the final game of the group stages – India vs Zimbabwe on October 24 and three Super 7 matches. According to the ICC’s pre-seeding, these will be India vs Australia on October 28, Pakistan vs England on October 30 and Australia vs New Zealand on November 1.

There will be five matches played at Durban, including the final one of the Super 7 between A1 (India) and B3 (Sri Lanka) on November 14. In all there are 12 venues – Windhoek in Namibia, Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe and Cape Town, Paarl, Johannesburg, Tshwane (Centurion), Bloemfontein, Durban, KuGompo City (East London) and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).

[Cricinfo]