Sports

Aruna, Amasha shine as Artillery Regiment take command

Published

4 years ago

2021/11/26

by Reemus Fernando

Sprinters Aruna Dharshan and Amasha de Silva produced thrilling performances but witnessing the former’s heroics in the 400 metres final will not be a possibility today after the Artillery Regiment athlete had to pull out through injury in the semi-finals on day four of the Army Athletics Championships at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Thursday.

Amasha established a new meet record in the women’s 200 metres after emerging sprinter Medhani Jayamanne’s late surge produced a photo finish to stop the clock at 24.05 seconds. The winner and the runner up were separated by one hundredth of a second.

Dharshana announced his return to form at this Army Championships producing a number of notable performances including record breaking feats in relays. He had the men’s 200 metres title under his belt yesterday before a hamstring injury forced him out of competition in the 400 metres semi-finals. However, by the time Dharshana pulled out, his regiment was leading the men’s competition with 214 points. Formidable SLEME were trailing in the second place with 171 points.

The day commenced with Nilani Ratnayake bagging her second individual gold as she clocked 16:32.47 seconds to win the 5,000 metres. The corresponding men’s event was won by V. Vaksan who returned a time of 14:41.05 seconds to finish ahead of R.M.S. Pushpakumara.

Dilshi Kumarasinghe had it easy in the 800 metres and was hardly challenged during the entire race. She returned a time of 2:06.73 seconds. Emerging middle distance runner Shanika Lakshani finished second in a time of 2:09.22 seconds.

Harsha Karunaratne ran a tactically slower first lap in the men’s 800 metres before sprinting to victory in the last 100 metres as he edged out Asian Championship (2019) participant Rusiru Chathuranga to win in a time of 1:51.06 seconds.

Experienced campaigner Sanjaya Jayasinghe won the gold in the men’s triple jump with a feat of 15.71 metres.

In the women’s 400 metres hurdles G.A.S. Dulani clocked 61.49 seconds to win after leading contender Kaushalya Madushani was disqualified for a foul start. In the men’s event Asitha Rathnasena edged out D.K. Vidhuranga in the last few metres. He was the second to clear the last hurdle but managed to pip Viduranga to second place as he stopped the clock at 52.35 seconds.

The women’s shot put gold was won by P.H. Sewwandi (10.74m) while the heptathlon felt the absence of Lakshika Sugandhi as the gold went to a total of 2051 points (S.A. Gimhani).

The Decathlon was won by M.I.M. Asan who aggregated 6892 points to beat national record holder Ajith Karunathilaka to the second place.

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England limp to 146-9 against Sri Lanka

Published

48 mins ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

Dunith Wellalage got rid of the well-set Phil Salt [Cricinfo]

England stagger to 146‑9 at the end of their 20 overs as they failed to build any sustained partnerships.

This might just be well short of a truly competitive total but they will hope the pitch does them some favours when they come out to bowl.

Brief score:
England 146/9 in 2o overs [Phil Salt 62, Harry Brook 14, Sam Curran 11,Will Jacks 21, Jamie Overton 10*; Dilshan Madushanka 2-25, Dunith Wellalage 3-26, Maheesh Theekshana 2-21, Dushmantha Chameera 1-34] vs England

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Sri Lanka opt to chase against England in Pallekele

Published

3 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

Sri Lanka opt to chase after success here versus Australia [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka have opted to chase against England at Pallekele, hoping to replicate their dominance victory over Australia here to kickstart their Super Eight campaign.

It was six days ago that Pathum Nissanka’s unbeaten 100 saw the hosts chase down Australia’s total of 181 with eight wickets and two overs to spare. And with home skipper Dasun Shanaka is looking to utilise that confidence in this Group 2 encounter.

“We’ve been chasing well in the past few occasions and happy to chase again,” said Shanaka at the toss. “The boys are very confident playing here.”

England skipper Harry Brook – on his 27th birthday – again called for bravery after his side stumbled into the second stage of this tournament. The two-time champions have gone in with an unchanged team for the fourth match in a row, with Jamie Overton retaining his place as the allrounder. Brook’s only slight worry is a cut to Jacob Bethell’s bowling hand (sustained during the match against West Indies), which is likely to prevent him from bowling due to the strapping on his finger.

Sri Lanka meanwhile make two changes to their XI, with Dushmantha Chameera returning in place of Pramod Madushan, having been rested for the defeat to Zimbabwe. Kamil Mishra comes back in for the man who replaced him, Kusal Perrera, as the hosts shuffle once more in an attempt to find a functional opening partnership.

These two squads know each other very well, having only concluded a three-match T20I series against one another at the start of the month, which took place entirely in Pallekele. England secured a 3-0 scoreline, capping things off with a professional 12run win in a low scoring encounter.

As for the outfield, both sides are primed for a different evening of ground-fielding on patchy grass. Heavy rains have punctuated the five das leading into this clash. Overnight precipitation has sodden the edges of the field, though the middle parts of the ground had been well-covered.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Dunith Wellelage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (capt), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Six races, six golds – Klaebo’s historic Olympics

Published

6 hours ago

2026/02/22

Priyan

'Amazing!' - Klaebo sets record for most golds won at a single Winter Olympics

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway’s king of cross-country skiing, broke the record for the most gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics with his sixth of the Games.

Klaebo led a Norwegian sweep of the podium in the 50km mass start classic, with team-mates Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Emil Iversen taking silver and bronze respectively.

The 29-year-old finished the brutal distance in two hours six minutes 44.8 seconds, 8.9secs ahead of Nyenget who takes his third medal of the Games.

“It’s been crazy, it’s a dream come true,” Klaebo told BBC Sport.

“I really think this Olympics has been perfect. Being able to crown the Olympics with the 50km was unbelievable.”

Klaebo breaks the previous record of five golds from a single Games, held by American speed skater Eric Heiden since the Lake Placid Olympics of 1980.

It also extends his own record for most Winter Olympic golds to 11, while he becomes the first athlete to win all six cross-country events at one Games.

Only US swimming great Michael Phelps, who won 23 gold medals, has more Olympic titles to his name.

Born in Oslo, Klaebo moved to Trondheim – a haven of cross-country skiing trails – as a young child, a move that has seen him become the greatest to ever do the sport.

No other man, active or retired, comes close to his record of 116 World Cup wins, while he is also a 15-time world champion, winning all six titles at last year’s edition on home snow in Trondheim.

“After the world championships last year, we knew that it was possible, but to be able to do it, it’s hard to find the right words,” he told reporters.

“[There were] so many emotions when I’m crossing the finish line.”

His sixth Olympic gold at Milan-Cortina adds to the titles he had won earlier in the Games in the skiathlon, sprint classic, 10km interval start free, 4×7.5km relay and the team sprint.

[BBC]