Sports
Killer Whale Aquatics account for five national records
After a Covid-induced hiatus of two years, Killer Whale Aquatics, a pillar of absolute dominance in Sri Lankan swimming, faced their first defeat since 2015 at the recently concluded 2022 LC National and Junior National Aquatic Championships. This year’s champion in the Men’s category, the seasoned and well-experienced SL Army Aquatics, won the title by just 12 points, highlighting a hard-fought battle between the two teams which served as a call back to the days of intense rivalry between SL Navy Aquatics and KWA that spearheaded Sri Lankan swimming’s rapid growth in the early 2010s. This championship ended a seven-year reign with five consecutive national titles for KWA, and though they will certainly not be content in this loss, the outcome was not without its merits.
Due to a halt on Sri Lankan swimming’s regularly scheduled operations over the past two years, the team competing for KWA was remarkably young, comprised mostly of those with little to no experience at the senior national level. Getting back to a semblance of normalcy within the swimming community has been a painstakingly laborious process, but despite the extreme hardships faced by all athletes around the country over these past few years, the results of this year’s Long Course Nationals are nothing if not an encouraging sign of progress.
A total of five new national and junior national records were established by KWA. In the Men’s 800m Freestyle, Anusara Abeygunawardane, the current KWA Men’s Captain, bettered his own national record by nearly five seconds, finishing with an incredible time of 8:49.80. He also became the newest member of the ‘sub-2-minute-mark club’ in the 200m Freestyle, a feat which would have placed him in extremely rare air (or more pertinently put, rare water) less than ten years ago. Abeygunawardane is the unassuming product of KWA’s Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model; proving, yet again, that an investment of patience in the early stages of an athlete’s journey is crucial to one’s long-term success and will pay vast dividends as they grow older.
Adeetha Siriwardena, a young and prodigious member of KWA, broke two junior national records. One came in the Boy’s 50m Backstroke with a time of 29.23 seconds, erasing an eight-year-old record set by the current Sri Lankan national record holder, Akalanka Pieris, back in 2014. Adeetha’s other record was in the Boy’s 100m Backstroke, breaking Shevinda De Silva’s (St. Joseph’s College) six-year-old record by almost two seconds, finishing in a blistering time of 1:04.06. Subsequently, to honour his achievements, Adeetha was awarded a full athletic scholarship by his school, Wesley College Colombo, a gracious act that must be commended in this time of financial uncertainty.
Ramudi Samarakoon, a member of KWA since its inception in 2010, where she began her journey in KWA’s Learn-To-Swim Program, Swim America, broke Mineka Karunaratne’s 14-year-old record in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke by a very narrow margin, finishing with a time of 1:14.54. Samarakoon, former Women’s captain at KWA, has been one of Sri Lanka’s most consistently successful athletes in the pool since 2016. This was her first personal best time in over six years, a triumph over personal tribulations and a tale of both perseverance and determination. In quite an admirable effort, she also led the KWA women’s team to second place this year; a team of four young women, severely outnumbered and outgunned by the victors of this year’s women’s championship, Visakha Vidyalaya. In the 4x50m Medley Relay, Samarakoon led her teammates (Akithmi Wasalathanthri, Minuri Bartholamuse, and Anithra Johnpillai) to victory, breaking KWA’s fifth and final national record at this year’s LC Nationals, with a time of 2:10.24.
Aside from the unique success Anusara, Adeetha and Ramudi shared, the rest of the swimmers at KWA, whether representing school or club, capped off their season with almost all of them having recording best times in each of their events. That is both a testament to the fortitude of these swimmers, as well as a product of the hard work of the KWA coaching staff, headed by Manoj Abeysinghe. Under these trying circumstances, the performances of these athletes are noteworthy. One can only look to the future and wonder what else these young champions have in store.
North Korea has held the Pyongyang International Marathon for the first time in six years, welcoming some 200 foreign runners to the streets of the reclusive country’s capital.
The marathon, which was launched in 1981, took place annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Before Sunday’s marathon, the race was last held in 2019, wherein 950 foreigners participated. North Korea sealed itself off the following year, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
North Korea has been slow to reopen since, allowing only Russian tourists into its capital since last year.
Runners have had to enter the country as part of an organised tour group, as was the case before the pandemic.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel agency listed as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six-day marathon tours at 2,195 euros ($2,406) including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
Sunday’s marathon route took participants past landmarks across the city, including the Kim Il Sung stadium, the Arch of Triumph built to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s role in resisting Japanese rule, and the Mirae Future Scientists’ Street said to be a residential district for scientists and engineers.
Pictures online show the stadium – where runners start and finish their race – filled with spectators, many of them cheering and waving gold-coloured paper flags.
Pak Kum Dong, a North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties whenever I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on race results.
North Korea had only statred to scale back Covid-19 restrictions in the middle of 2023.
In Feburary, it allowed some Western tourists into the remote, eastern city Rason, but suspended those tours just weeks after.
[BBC]
Noor Ahmad, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm wristspinner, continues to head the Purple Cap table with ten wickets from four games. His spell of 4 for 18 in CSK’s first game against MI, remains his best so far.
DC’s Mitchell Starc who picked up his maiden five-for in T20s, against SRH remains second on the list with nine wickets in three games.
GT’s Mohammed Siraj equalled Starc’s tally on Sunday night with his own IPL best, albeit he has played four games to Starc’s three. Siraj picked up 4 for 17 against SRH to hand them their four successive loss, and was named the Player of the Match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.
Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.
Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.
Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.
Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.
With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21
Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.
That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.
It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.
Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.
Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.
Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar 49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
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