Sports
Ayomal erases National junior record to win Sports Festival gold
By Reemus Fernando
Ambagamuwa MV athlete Ayomal Akalanka hogged the limelight as he broke the National Junior hurdles record to win the gold medal of the 48th National Sports Festival at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Thursday.
Akalanka who has reached entry standards for the World Junior Championships clocked a remarkable time of 51.26 seconds to win the 400 metres hurdles ahead of experienced campaigner A. I. Rathnasena. The athlete trained by veteran coach Anura Bandara shattered the record held by his own school mate Danuka Dharshana.
Incidentally Dharshana established the record at the last World Junior event with a feat of 51.41 seconds in Cali, Colombia.
In the men’s 200 metres, Kalinga Kumarage pipped soon-to-be Olympian Aruna Dharshana to the second place to win the men’s 200 metres.In the men’s 100 metres heats, Chamod Yodasinghe created a new meet record with a feat of 10.27 seconds. Jaffna’s A. Puvitharan cleared a height of 5.11 metres to erase the men’s pole vault record.
Sports
Lekamge produces seasonal best to win women’s javelin
National thrower Dilhani Lekamge produced her season’s best performance to emerge victorious in the women’s javelin event on day two of the Selection Trial held at Diyagama on Friday.
Fresh from winning the silver medal at the recently concluded Asian Throwing Championships in Mokpo, Lekamge delivered an impressive throw of 58.57 metres to comfortably secure first place. Her nearest challenger, D.H. Maduwanthi, could only manage a distance of 51.32 metres.
Meanwhile, reigning national champion Madushani Herath continued to stamp her authority in the horizontal jumps with another notable performance, clearing 6.18 metres. Competing in the Under-23 age category, Herath further strengthened her position as the country’s leading long jumper.
In the open women’s long jump event, which featured several junior athletes, G.S. Ranaweera emerged victorious with a leap of 5.83 metres.
The women’s 400 metres final saw experienced sprinter Nadeesha Ramanayake being pipped to second place by G.A. Sathsarani, who clocked an impressive winning time of 53.71 seconds.
In the men’s events, Y.W. Kumara claimed the triple jump title with a leap of 16.28 metres, while Janindu Lakvijaya won the 110 metres hurdles in a time of 14.25 seconds, adding further excitement to an eventful second day of competition at Diyagama. (RF)
Sports
LPL 2026 Opening Game between Jaffna and Galle
The inaugural game of the Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played between the Jaffna and Galle teams, who emerged as the Champions and Runners-up respectively in the 2024 season.
The opening game is scheduled to be played on 17th July at the SSC Grounds, commencing at 7.30 p.m.
Prior to the start of the tournament opener, a spectacular opening ceremony will be held at the SSC Grounds in Colombo.
The Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played from 17th July to 8th August across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RDICS, Dambulla; PICS, Pallekele; and RPICS, Colombo.
The tournament is conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder.
Latest News
LPL 2026 Opening Game between Jaffna and Galle
The inaugural game of the Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played between the Jaffna and Galle teams, who emerged as the Champions and Runners-up respectively in the 2024 season.
The opening game is scheduled to be played on 17th July at the SSC Grounds, commencing at 7.30 p.m.
Prior to the start of the tournament opener, a spectacular opening ceremony will be held at the SSC Grounds in Colombo.
The Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played from 17th July to 8th August across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RDICS, Dambulla; PICS, Pallekele; and RPICS, Colombo.
The tournament is conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder.
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