Sports
Akalanka flexes muscles ahead of Thailand open
Records Asia’s fastest time in U20 category
With a week to go for the Thailand Open Athletics Championship, Ambagamuwa Central athlete Ayomal Akalanka flexed his muscles with a new Sri Lanka National Junior record time in the 400 metres hurdles at the Junior National Athletics Championship at Diyagama on Friday.
One of the brightest prospects to emerge from the schools set up in recent years, Akalanka clocked 50.20 seconds to win the Under 20 400 metres hurdles. The athlete trained by veteran coach Anura Bandara broke his own National Junior record.
Akalanka is the youngest athlete picked in the Sri Lanka team for the Thailand Open Athletics Championship which will be held from June 22.
Shavindu Avishka won the Under 18 boys’ 800 metres
The record breaking feat is the fourth fastest time in the world this year in his age category and the fastest time in Asia.
His 51.33 seconds time clocked in March this year was the sixth fastest time in Asia untill he reached his personal best on Friday to take the top spot in the region this year.
Akalanka became the senior national champion in the 400 metres hurdles last year and has maintained his supremacy beating veterans at senior level this year as well.
Sri Lanka will field eight athletes at the Thailand Open and it will be a big opportunity for Akalanka to brush shoulders against seniors. It is an opportunity his former training partner Dhanuka Dharsana did not get when he accomplished similar achievements turning tables on seniors while competing at junior level.
by Reemus Fernando ✍️
The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Panel has named the following squads for the upcoming Tri-Nation ‘A’ Series and the Four-Day Series.
The Tri-Nation One-Day Series, featuring Sri Lanka ‘A’, India ‘A’, and Afghanistan ‘A’, will be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium (RDICS), Dambulla, commencing on 9 June 2026.
The Four-Day Series between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and India ‘A’ will be played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium (GICS), Galle, with the first match scheduled to begin on 25 June 2026.
The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Panel has selected the following squads to play in the West Indies Emerging Tour of Sri Lanka 2026.
The West Indies and Sri Lanka emerging teams will play two four-day games and three one-day games during the bilateral contest.
The tour will begin on the 8th of June with the first four-day game at MRICS, Hambantota, while the second four-day game will start on the 15th of June at the same venue.
One-day games will be played on the 22nd, 24th, and 26th of June.
The first two one-day games will be played at the SSC, and the final at the NCC.
A two-member ICC delegation that visited Dhaka earlier this week will report its findings and observations to the governing body. According to an ICC media release, directors Dr Mohammed Moosajee and Tavengwa Mukuhlani engaged with “a range of stakeholders to review developments linked to the BCB”.
Moosajee and Mukuhlani arrived in Dhaka on June 1, after which they met BCB’s ad-hoc committee members, including president Tamim Iqbal. The pair also met with members of the BCB’s election commission, with the polls scheduled to be held on June 7.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that the delegation also met with BCB directors who had resigned from the previous board. Among the directors who didn’t resign, Asif Akbar and Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury were in the group that also met the ICC delegation in a separate meeting on June 2.
Afterwards, Aminul Islam, the former Bangladesh captain who was the BCB president until April, claimed that they urged the ICC to not recognise any election conducted by or under the authority of the ad-hoc committee on June 7 or at any other time. Aminul, who still considers himself the BCB president, said that the BCB’s ad-hoc committee should correct their May 31 press release regarding the ICC delegations’ visit to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s High Court rejected a writ petition that challenged the legality of the election schedule and voter list for the upcoming BCB elections on June 7.
The bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty and Justice Md Ashif Hasan passed the rejection order stating that the petition was not presented properly before it. The petition was filed on May 18, a month and a bit after the country’s sports ministry dissolved the BCB’s board of directors on April 7. They appointed an 11-member ad-hoc committee led by Tamim, the former Bangladesh captain, on the same day.
[Cricinfo]
SLC name squads for Tri-Nation ‘A’ series and Four-Day series
SLC name squads for West Indies Emerging Tour of Sri Lanka 2026
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