Sports
Herath has the potential to break the national record – Vithanage
by Reemus Feranndo
The men’s steeplechase witnessed a new champion after a long time at the recently conducted 98th National Athletics Championships. Eranda Udaya Bandara Herath who has been playing second fiddle to R.M.S. Pushpakumara for some time now, emerged from the shadow of the many time champion to claim his maiden title as he produced his personal best.
“It is a satisfying feeling to win the title against the champion,” said the 25 year old Herath in an interview with The Island.
“It is satisfying because of the circumstances under which we had to train due to the covid 19 pandemic,” said Herath.
The athlete trained by Sumith Prasanna Vithanage clocked 9:00.22 seconds to win, nearly eight seconds ahead of the reigning champion. His performance has earned him the 17th position in the Asian rankings.
The Army athlete who commenced training for this discipline as a school athlete had not even seen a steeplechase when he was first introduced to the challenging event by Vithanage.
“Vithanage Sir saw me hurdling during a practice session and introduced me to the event. That is how I started,” said Herath.
He first tasted victory in his last year as an Under-20 athlete when he clinched the title at the Junior National Championship in 2014. He produced a sub ten minutes feat in winning and he was also the winner of the Sir John Tarbet Senior Championships that year.
Three years later Herath once again clinched a title when he won the Under-23 steeplechase at the 2017 Junior Nationals.
Since then he had been competing against Pushpakumara for the national title. In 2017 he was placed second in the steeplechase at the Nationals and third at the Army Championship.
Herath joined the Army five years ago and was under the guidance of D.M. Dissanayake for one and half years before he rejoined Vithanage.
Vithanage who has trained him since he was a teenager considers his charge as a strong contender to break the national record which has remained unchanged for more than two decades.
“He has the potential to run under eight minutes and 45 seconds. Our target is to achieve that before long,” said Vithanage referring to GSP Mendis’ record mark created in 1998.
Vithanage had another success at the Nationals when his sprinter Fathima Shafiya Yamick was placed third in the women’s 100 metres and second in the 200 metres and will also bank heavily on Amesha Hettiarachchi to achieve World Under-20 Championship entry standards in the 400 metres hurdles when the junior events are held this year.
Both the men’s and women’s cricket events at the LA 2028 Olympics are set to be six-team competitions, as approved by the Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday (April 9). Further, a total of 90 athlete quotas have been allotted to each gender, allowing each nation to name a 15-member squad.
As reported earlier, T20 Internationals have been designated as the format of choice for the competition. The venues are yet to be confirmed although New York is in the fray to host the matches.
It is unclear how the six participating nations will be determined and the issue of representation, in the cases of Great Britain and the West Indies, is yet to be addressed as well.
Cricket was last part of the Olympic Games in 1900, when it was contested by just two teams – Great Britain and France. Great Britain went on to win the only cricket Olympics Gold Medal thus far by winning what was a 2-day game.
Cricket has recently been a part of other international multi-sport events. Both men’s and women’s cricket competitions were part of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games whereas the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games featured an eight-team women’s competition.
(Cricbuzz)
The three-day Schools Relay Carnival will conclude at Diyagama today. Here are some action pictures from day two of the event on Thursday.
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- St. Benedict’s dominated Under 20 4×800 metres
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- (From left) Shadhen Ravihansa, Rohith Akshana, Manuwa Nethsara and Enok Dilshan of Rathnayake Central won the Under 18 boys’ 4×800 metres
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- The quartet of St. Joseph Vaz’s College Wennappuwa (from left), Camidu Sandew, Maleesha Anuhas, Ruchira Daham and Kavindu Maleesha won the Under 16 boys’ 4×800 metres
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- (From left) Nethmi Sadamaya, Githmi Nehara, Gihara Karunarathne and Sahasra Sithumini of Rathnayake Central Walala pose after winning the Under 16 girls’ 4x800m relay.
Rathnayake Central lead Under 18 4x800m relay.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
Karunaratne dropped from South Asian Championships
Veteran coach Susantha Fernando has questioned the credibility of the selection process of Sri Lanka Athletics after Harsha Karunaratne, the reigning national champion in the men’s 800 metres was dropped from the team for the up coming South Asian Athletics Championships.
The South Asian Athletics Championship will be held from May 3 to 5 in Ranchi, India. Unlike at previous editions, Sri Lanka Athletics has picked only one athlete per event for a majority of disciplines in a bid to cut costs.
Karunaratne who trains under Fernando was placed second in the 800 metres at the final selection trial. While the governing body has picked two athletes each for 100m, 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles, javelin throw and high jump, only one athlete each has been picked for all other events from 800 metres to 10000 m and other field events.
Fernando has requested the intervention of the sports minister to include Katunaratne in the team.
“Sri Lanka Athletics has sent two athletes each for the 800 metres for all South Asian Championships and South Asian Games since 1995. On all occations the governing body had picked athletes who had clocked sub 1:50 seconds. This will be the first time an athlete who had clocked sub 1:50 is not picked in the team,” Fernando has stated in a letter addressed to the sports minister.
Karunaratne, the elder brother of Asian Games gold medallist Tharushi, was pipped to the second place by G.K. Chathuranga at the selection trial held early last month. The two athletes were seperated only by miliseconds. While Chathuranga returned a time of 1:49.89 seconds, Karunaratne clocked 1:49.98 seconds.
Fernando has also stated that Karunaratne had recovered from a virus fever just a week prior to the selection trial.
When contacted on this regard an offical of Sri Lanka Athletics said that the governing body of the sport was reluctantly compelled to pick a pruned down team in a bid to reduce costs and all selection decisions were taken after careful consideration of the current rankings of the South Asian region in each discipline.
by Reemus Fernando
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