Sports
Long jump prodigy Dilni smashes 29-year-old record
Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championship
by Reemus Fernando
The 14-year-old prodigy Dilni Rajapaksha shattered one of the longest standing meet records of the Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championship to establish herself as a future prospect for Sri Lanka in the field of athletics at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Monday.
The athlete trained by Damitha Dahanayake twice cleared the six metre mark to improve on the decades old record held by former national champion Anoma Sooriyarachchi.
It was all expected as the Lyceum International, Wattala athlete had cleared the six metre mark in the lead up to the championship.
No Sri Lankan athlete had cleared the six metre mark competing in the Under 16 age category before the young athlete dazzled with a stunning performance last month.
Dilni cleared 6.26 metres at the Western Province Schools Games athletics championship in September. The performance earned her the best athlete title in the girls’ category.
Yesterday, she cleared 6.01 metres in her fourth attempt before further improving it to 6.12 in her final jump. Her closest rivals from Vijitha Central, Dikwella, cleared 5.27 m and 5.26 m respectively to share the podium.
Former national champion Anoma Sooriyarachchi, who is now domiciled in the UK had cleared 5.61 metres to establish the meet record way back in 1995. The Southland Balika, Galle athlete’s meet record was the third oldest record in the girls category behind Damayanthi Dharsha’s 100m, and 200 metres Under 20 records established in 1992.
With yesterday’s performance Dilni has surpassed the long jump meet records in both the Under 18 (6.09m) and Under 20 (6.01m) age categories which are written against the names of the reigning national long jump champion Madushani Herath (2022) and national record holder Sarangi Silva (2014) respectively.
Dilni will now attempt the triple jump meet record in the Under 16 age category.
The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Panel has named the following squads for the upcoming Tri-Nation ‘A’ Series and the Four-Day Series.
The Tri-Nation One-Day Series, featuring Sri Lanka ‘A’, India ‘A’, and Afghanistan ‘A’, will be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium (RDICS), Dambulla, commencing on 9 June 2026.
The Four-Day Series between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and India ‘A’ will be played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium (GICS), Galle, with the first match scheduled to begin on 25 June 2026.
The Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Panel has selected the following squads to play in the West Indies Emerging Tour of Sri Lanka 2026.
The West Indies and Sri Lanka emerging teams will play two four-day games and three one-day games during the bilateral contest.
The tour will begin on the 8th of June with the first four-day game at MRICS, Hambantota, while the second four-day game will start on the 15th of June at the same venue.
One-day games will be played on the 22nd, 24th, and 26th of June.
The first two one-day games will be played at the SSC, and the final at the NCC.
A two-member ICC delegation that visited Dhaka earlier this week will report its findings and observations to the governing body. According to an ICC media release, directors Dr Mohammed Moosajee and Tavengwa Mukuhlani engaged with “a range of stakeholders to review developments linked to the BCB”.
Moosajee and Mukuhlani arrived in Dhaka on June 1, after which they met BCB’s ad-hoc committee members, including president Tamim Iqbal. The pair also met with members of the BCB’s election commission, with the polls scheduled to be held on June 7.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that the delegation also met with BCB directors who had resigned from the previous board. Among the directors who didn’t resign, Asif Akbar and Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury were in the group that also met the ICC delegation in a separate meeting on June 2.
Afterwards, Aminul Islam, the former Bangladesh captain who was the BCB president until April, claimed that they urged the ICC to not recognise any election conducted by or under the authority of the ad-hoc committee on June 7 or at any other time. Aminul, who still considers himself the BCB president, said that the BCB’s ad-hoc committee should correct their May 31 press release regarding the ICC delegations’ visit to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s High Court rejected a writ petition that challenged the legality of the election schedule and voter list for the upcoming BCB elections on June 7.
The bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty and Justice Md Ashif Hasan passed the rejection order stating that the petition was not presented properly before it. The petition was filed on May 18, a month and a bit after the country’s sports ministry dissolved the BCB’s board of directors on April 7. They appointed an 11-member ad-hoc committee led by Tamim, the former Bangladesh captain, on the same day.
[Cricinfo]
SLC name squads for Tri-Nation ‘A’ series and Four-Day series
SLC name squads for West Indies Emerging Tour of Sri Lanka 2026
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