Sports
Let the ‘OLY’ recognize Olympians’- Kulawansa
Olympian Sriyani Kulawansa said that Sri Lanka Olympians would give emphasis to promoting the ‘OLY’ title, a post-nominal letters granted by the World Olympians Association (WOA) to athletes who have participated in Olympics. The World Olympians Association took the initiative in 2017.
Kulawansa speaking to The Island said that all sportsmen and women who represented the country have the ‘OLY’ title and her Association would like to promote the title as it would give due recognition to Olympians in a country dominated by a non Olympic sport.
“All Olympians have the OLY title. Representing the country at the Olympics is like obtaining a PHD. The OLY title is a complement for the efforts put in to be an Olympian,” Kulawansa said in an interview.
“We felicitated the athletes who became eligible for the title with their participation at the last Tokyo Olympics including Yupun Abeykoon and Nimali Liyanarachchi at the AGM. Some of the new Olympians who were not in the country will be awarded their pins at a future date,” said Kulawansa.
Former national track and field champions Kulawansa, Sugath Thilakaratne and Damayanthi Dharsha who still hold national records of their pet events more than two decades after retiring were elected to top positions of the Sri Lanka Olympians at its Annual General Meeting held at the NCC premises on Saturday.
Newly elected Committee members of the Sri Lanka Olympians (from left) Julian Bolling, Ruvini Abeymanna, Sugath Thilakarathna (Secretary) Sriyani Kulawansa (President), Damayanthi Dharsha (Vice President), Nimmi de Soyza (Treasurer), Anurudda Rathnayake and Mahesh Perera.
Newly elected Committee members of the Sri Lanka Olympians (from left) Julian Bolling, Ruvini Abeymanna, Sugath Thilakarathna (Secretary) Sriyani Kulawansa (President), Damayanthi Dharsha (Vice President), Nimmi de Soyza (Treasurer), Anurudda Rathnayake and Mahesh Perera.Kulawansa who represented Sri Lanka at three Olympics from 1992 was elected as the president for a term of four years. Asian Games medallist Thilakaratne who produced the current national record in the 400 metres in 1998 was elected as the secretary of the apex body.
Asian Games medallist Dharsha was elected vice president while Nimmi de Soyza was elected treasurer.
The other members who were elected to the committee are Julian Bolling, Mahesh Perera, Anurudha Ratnayake and Ruvini Abeynayake.
by Reemus Fernando
All three Sri Lankan sprinters qualified for the finals of their respective disciplines to give country’s track and field campaign a positive start at the Asian Games on Friday.While Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana qualified for the men’s 400 metres final, Asian Championship gold medallist Nadeesha Ramanayake reached the finals of the women’s 400metres.
Ramanayake clocked the third fastest time in the heats to qualify for the finals where Bahrain’s Oluwakemi Kujidat and Salwa Nesar are the strongest contenders for the gold medal.
Competing in the third heat Ramanayake clocked 52.67 seconds to finish second behind Oluwakemi Kujidat. Ramanayake’s time was the third fastest in the heats in the final analysis. While former world champion Salwa Nesar was the winner in the second heat, Shereen Samson of Malaysia won the first heat in a time of 52.89 seconds.
Both Salwa and Oluwakemi Kujidat were not in the fray when Ramanayake won Sri Lanka the gold medal at the recently held Asian Athletics Championship. Ramanayake will have a tough ask today when she competes for Asian Games glory.
In the men’s category 400 metres, Kumarage clocked 45.57 seconds to win his heat, while Aruna Dharshana finished third in his heat in a time of 46.07 seconds.\Kumarage’s 45.54 seconds is the third fastest time in the heats, while Dharshana enters final as the eighth fastest from the heats.
All three sprinters will be eager to create history when they compete in the 400 metres finals. Sri Lanka has not won a medal of any colour in track and field at these Games since 2006.
Sri Lanka won two bronze medals at the Asian Games in Doha. Susanthika Jayasinghe in the women’s 200 metres and the men’s 4×400 metres team of Sugath Thilakaratne, Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Prasanna Amarasekara and Ranga Wimalawansa were the last medallist for Sri Lanka in track and field at these Games.
Superb New Zealand scored an incredible 14 tries and hit 96 points against Italy in Pool A to move to the cusp of the World Cup quarter-finals.
Knowing a defeat would see them eliminated, the All Blacks raced into a pulsating 49-3 half-time lead. They ultimately ran out 96-17 victors with scrum-half Aaron Smith scoring a hat-trick after just 33 minutes.
The All Blacks will guarantee a spot in the knockouts with a win over Uruguay in their final pool match on Thursday. Italy must beat hosts France in their next match to reach a first World Cup quarter-final.
The All Blacks’ win sees them jump up to second in Pool A, level on points with Italy who they now have a superior head-to-head record over.
(BBC)
Kane Williamson’s return to action headlined New Zealand’s first official warmup match of the 2023 World Cup as they hit the right notes with the bat in a high-scoring game in Hyderabad. Mohammad Rizwan (103) and Babar Azam (80) provided a good platform and the middle order got amongst the runs to help Pakistan post 345. The total, however, proved insufficient as New Zealand, led by Rachin Ravindra’s 97 and three other half-century scores, including that of Williamson, pulled off the chase with 6.2 overs to spare
After Devon Conway was dismissed by Hasan Ali for a golden duck, Ravindra and Williamson got together and added 179 runs in just 22 overs to power New Zealand’s chase. Williamson decided to retire after crossing fifty while Ravindra was dismissed by Agha Salman before he could get a ton. Usama Mir then picked up the wickets of Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in quick succession but fifties from Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell, and an important 33 from James Neesham, helped New Zealand over the line in the 44th over.
Earlier, After opting to bat, Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq in the second over to Matt Henry while Mitch Santner had Abdullah Shafique out stumped. Babar, who started watchfully, found his groove while Rizwan also scored at a steady rate as they raised a century partnership to set things up nicely for Pakistan. Babar, however, missed a hundred while Rizwan retired after reaching three figures, giving Pakistan’s lower middle order some time out in the middle. Saud Shakeel (75) and Agha Salman (33*) came up with handy contributions to propel Pakistan past 340.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 345/5 in 50 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 103, Babar Azam 80; Mitch Santner 2-39) lost to New Zealand 346/5 in 43.4 overs (Rachin Ravindra 97, Mark Chapman 65; Usama Mir 2-68) by 5 wickets
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