Sunday was a day of surprises at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25.

While the likes of Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Gudaf Tsegay lived up to expectation in the 1500m finals, and Sander Skotheim did likewise in the heptathlon, there were several shock wins throughout the final day of action in Nanjing’s Cube.

Claire Bryant set the tone with the first final of the day, taking a surprise victory in the long jump. Another shock soon followed as world and Olympic high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh was beaten by Australian duo Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson.

New Zealand shot putter Tom Walsh and sprint hurdler Devynne Charlton both produced their best form of the year so far to take surprise golds. Prudence Sekgodiso, meanwhile, was similarly surprised to win the women’s 800m. The men’s 800m, by contrast, went to the form book as Josh Hoey held on for victory.

Normal order was restored by the end of the day with USA taking dominant wins in both 4x400m finals. It meant they ended the championships top of the medals table with 16 medals, six of them gold.

[World Athletics]

World Indoor Athletics Championship

Sri Lanka men’s 4×400 metres relay team established a new national indoor record at the World Indoor Athletics Championship concluded in Nanjing China yesterday.

The team inclusive of Kalinga Kumarage, Randima Madushan, Shashintha Silva and Sadew Rajakaruna finished fifth in the 4×400 metres final won by the USA. Their finishing time of 3:10.58 seconds improved on the previous mark held by Prasanna Amarasekara, Rohitha Pushpakumara, Shivantha Weerasooriya and Asoka Jayasundara in 2007.

The women’s team ran in an indoor event for the first time. They too finished fifth in the final.

The semi-final berths secured by sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe and hurdler Kaveesha Bandara in their respective events were the high points of the Sri Lankan contingent during the three-day World Indoor Championships concluded on Sunday.

Yodasinghe reached the semi-finals of the 60 metres dash with a remarkable sprint performance on day one of the Championship.

Competing in heat two Yodasinghe clocked 6.70 seconds. It was also the finishing time clocked by USA’s Coby Hilton and Switzerland’s William Reais, who were separated by photofinish. Coby Hilton, William Reais and Yodasinghe were given the first, second and third places respectively.

Yodasinghe could not produce such a performance in the semi-final but his appearance in the semi-final will augur well when the world rankings are updated.

Bandara advanced to the semi-finals with a 7.87 seconds feat in the fourth heat of the 60 metres hurdles on Saturday. He could not make an impact in the semi-final but the semi-final appearance is going to stand him in good stead.

by Reemus Fernando

Chennai Super King’s bowling acquisitions during the off-season paid immediate dividends as their four new bowlers took nine wickets between them to restrict Mumbai Indians to 155 for 9, a total that they ultimately chased down with ease but not without a hiccup against debutant left-arm wristspinner Vignesh Purthur,  who is yet to represent his state side in senior cricket.

However, it was the other left-arm wristspinner, younger than Puthur but a veteran by comparison, who made the telling impact. Noor Ahmad registered his best IPL figures and the best figures for a CSK spinner against MI, 4 for 18, to capitalise on the inroads made b Khaleel Ahmed whose CSK debut was not too shabby either: wickets of the openers and analysis of 4-0-29-3.

CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad made the chase look like a walk in the park with 53 off 26, bringing the requirement down to a run a ball in the ninth over, but this is when they started losing wickets to Puthur, struggling to impart power into his slow wristspin. Three of them holed out in the deep, but Rachin Ravindra anchored the chase with 65 off 45 to see them home.

Khaleel is a dichotomous IPL bowler. He is worse than the average fast bowler during afternoon games, and better than the average fast bowler in night games. The only explanation for it is that there is a small window for movement with the new ball under lights, and he is a different beast when the ball moves. It showed in how he denied the openers a big hit with the little bit of movement that was available. The eventual dismissals looked soft – Rohit Sharma caught at forward square leg and Ryan Rickleton bowled off an inside edge – but they were the results of the pressure created by Khaleel himself.