Sports
Player unity stands tall despite rugby’s divisions
By A Special Sports Correspondent
The Inter-club Nippon Paint sponsored league rugby tournament is set to make an ambitious start on December 1 (Friday) for the 2023/24 season with Havelocks Sports Club hosting Air Force Sports Club at the Park Club under lights. The kick-off is scheduled for 6.30 pm.
Rugby is a game of nerves and knowledge more than a contest between muscled men as of now. Today one needs the knowledge to take the ball forward and enough of information about where the opposition is weak. We have to see what the coaches have to offer this season; especially young coaches like Dushanth Lewke (CR&FC), Saliya Kumara (Havelocks SC), Shamly Nawaz (Army SC) and Fazil Marija (Kandy SC). From the three mentioned above Lewke reads the game the best and has produced results. Under the latter’s guidance CR&FC won the knockouts and performed exceptionally well during the league tournament.
Kandy Sports Club has maintained its stature as a rugby ‘institute’ ever since a revolt by members in a leading Colombo club back in the 1990s; which sparked an exodus of players to Nittawela. Since winning the league for the first time in 1994 Kandy SC has won this piece of silver wear for a record 23 times; the last being during the 2022/34 season under the leadership of Damith Dissanayake. The strength of Kandy SC is that the club can make its match-winner sit on the bench and still win a crunch game. Does that leave the players in a position where they cannot bargain unnecessarily when the time comes to renew playing contracts? We hear of just one casualty at the club and that is Suhiru Anthony who has crossed over to CR&FC and leads them this season. The Nittawela club is led this season by the fast running Lavanga Perera, who has shone for the side in both the ‘sevens’ and 15-a-side versions of the game.
As much as the country is divided in politics, so are the rugby clubs, but not necessarily the players. That’s why players are able to freely cross over to other clubs. In this rugby set-up it’s the clubs that own the players and look after their interests. If there is any little grey area associated with the cream of players there among them a few who don’t give their heart and soul when representing the nation at overseas tournament. This was once confirmed to this writer last season by the chief rugby selector at that time Asoka Jayasena. For the record the divisions among the clubs and the animosity against the rugby administration was shown in no uncertain terms when some clubs followed the sports minister’s orders and ganged up against SLR; showing their will to serve a stabilizing committee which was put in place to see to a constitution change at the SLR. Another sour point last season was Kandy SC protesting against playing at a neutral venue for the Clifford Cup and eventually pulling out of the tournament.
But coming back to the inter-club season it’s a different ball game. This writer believes in the saying ‘there is no game without players’. This was the catch-phrase for an advertisement regarding a leading brand of cigarettes which once sponsored the domestic league rugby tournament in this country. Rugby in Sri Lanka is about player management and clubs must take a bow for doing that since the game in the island went semi-professional some years ago.
One of the clubs which couldn’t retain some of its best products was Havelocks Sports Club. The best examples for such loses are Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and Dhanushka Ranjan. Both players ended up in Kandy. But still, despite these episodes, the Park Club has been a force to be reckoned with and has given the best teams in the league a run for their money. The only real loss this season would be last season’s coach Sanath Martis who has taken up the reins at CH&FC. The Park Club this season is led by Azmir Fajudeen.
Another team to watch this season is Navy Sports Club; a team which in the past was an institute that served as ‘the rugby home’ for at least two out of the three boys of the Rajapaksa family. Navy started becoming a force when Namal and Yoshitha played for the ‘sea going force’, but then the Sailors lost their sting in rugby after one brother crossed over to another club and the other hung up his boots to take up serious politics. Still Navy SC produces good rugby and had with them players in the likes of Samuel Maduwantha, Dinesh de Silva, Radeesha Senewiratne, Gihan Madusanka and Thilina Weerasinghe last season. The latter leads them this season. The only notable casualty this season for them is Adeesha Weerathunga who has joined the ‘Red Shirts’ this season.
Some of the other teams that could be in contention of high finishes this season are Police SC (Led by Mohan Wimalaratne), Army SC (led by Ashan Bandara) and Air Force SC (led by Parkrama Ratnayake).
There is a solid team build up at the Gymkhana Club (CH&FC) with the side being led this season by Avantha Lee and coached by rugby veteran Martis. The side finished at the bottom of the points table in the league tournament last season, but surprisingly produced some exciting rugby and was featured in some closely contested games as well. A question that rugby critics pose is how Sri Lanka Rugby SLR) can motivate a team like CH&FC- which had a low finish last season- when there is no relegation system in club rugby when compared to the schools tournament? In the schools’ rugby tournament the last placed team in the points table is demoted to playing in a lower division the next season.
Matches of the Nippon Paint Inter-club league rugby tournament will be officiated by an elite panel of referees assigned by the Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees.
There was a feeling of deja vu on the first day of action at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25.
Three of the gold medallists – 60m winner Jeremiah Azu, triple jump champion Andy Diaz Hernandez, and pentathlon gold medallist Saga Vanninen – stood atop a major podium for the second time this month, having struck gold at the recent European Indoor Championships two weeks ago.
The two other winners today, shot put champion Sarah Mitton and high jump victor Woo Sanghyeok, collected their second world indoor titles, having won in previous editions.
Diaz Hernandez was the first winner of the day, taking triple jump gold with a world-leading 17.80m to break his own outright Italian record.
Another jumps gold was decided in the evening session as Woo regained the title he first won in 2022, beating Olympic champion Hamish Kerr with a winning leap of 2.31m.
A high-quality shot put tussle resulted in Mitton retaining her crown with 20.48m. The pentathlon reached its conclusion at a similar time as Vanninen landed gold with 4821.
The evening session drew to a close with the men’s 60m final as Azu held off a strong challenge from Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy to take gold by 0.01 in 6.49.
[World Athletics]
Boxing heavyweight legend George Foreman has died aged 76, according to his family.
Known as Big George in the ring, the American built one of the most remarkable and enduring careers in the sport, winning Olympic gold in 1968 and claiming the world heavyweight title twice, 21 years apart – the second making him the oldest champion in history aged 45.
He lost his first title to Muhammad Ali in their famous Rumble in the Jungle fight in 1974. But Foreman’s professional boxing career boasted an astonishing total of 76 wins including 68 knockouts, almost double that of Ali.
He retired from the sport in 1997 but not before he agreed to put his name to a best-selling grill – a decision that went on to bring him fortunes that dwarfed his boxing earnings.
His family said in a post on Instagram on Friday night: “Our hearts are broken.
“A devout preacher, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a proud grand and great grandfather, he lived a life marked by unwavering faith, humility, and purpose.”
The statement added: “A humanitarian, an Olympian, and two time heavyweight champion of the world, He was deeply respected – a force for good, a man of discipline, conviction, and a protector of his legacy, fighting tirelessly to preserve his good name – for his family.”
Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas, on 10 January 1949, and raised along with six siblings by a single mother in the segregated American South.
He dropped out of school and turned to street robberies before eventually finding his outlet in the ring.
Foreman won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, aged 19, before turning pro and winning 37 consecutive matches. He lost only five bouts over his career.
He beat previously undefeated reigning champion Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1973 knocking him down six times in the first two rounds.
His 1974 Rumble in the Jungle against Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, remains one of the most famous boxing matches ever.
Ali, the older man, was the underdog after he was stripped of his crown seven years earlier for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam War.
Foreman reflected on the legendary fight 50 years later in an October interview with BBC World Service Newshour, explaining that everyone thought he was going to decimate Ali.
“Oh, he’s not going to last one round,” the boxer said experts were predicting at the time.
Foreman told the BBC he typically would get “real nervous” and have “butterflies” before any boxing match, but that night – it was the “most comfortable” he had felt.
But the wily Ali used a tactic that later became known as “rope-a-dope”, which wore out Foreman, causing him to throw out hundreds of punches before Ali unloaded on him in the eighth round and scored a knockout.
After a second professional loss, Foreman retired in 1977 and became an ordained minister at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Texas, which he founded and built.
He told the BBC his defeat to Ali became the “best thing that ever happened to me” as it ultimately led him to “get my message out” through preaching.
He recalled that his preaching started small, on street corners and with friends, then grew.
“We began meeting informally at various homes in Houston, and before long, the crowds became too large for most houses to accommodate,” Foreman said on his website.
“Eventually, we bought a piece of land and an old, dilapidated building on the north-east side of Houston.”
Foreman came out of retirement in 1987 to raise money for a youth centre he founded. He won 24 matches before losing to Evander Holyfield after 12 rounds in 1991.
In 1994, Foreman knocked out undefeated Michael Moorer to become the oldest ever heavyweight champion at age 45.
He became ad pitchman for his George Foreman Grill, which millions have purchased since it hit the market in 1994, thanks in part to his memorable catchphrase, the “Lean Mean Grilling Machine”.
Foreman was married five times. He has a dozen children, including five sons who are all named George.
He explained on his website that he named them after himself so they “they would always have something in common”.
“I say to them, ‘If one of us goes up, then we all go up together,” he explained. “And if one goes down, we all go down together!'”
[BBC]
World Indoor Championship
Sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe reached the semi-finals of the 60 metres dash with a remarkable sprint performance on day one of the World Indoor Athletics Championship in Nanjing China on Friday.
Competing in heat two the athlete trained by Sanjeewa Weerakkody clocked a blistering time of 6.70 seconds shared by USA’s Coby Hilton and Switzerland’s William Reais. The trio were separated by photofinish with Coby Hilton, William Reais and Yodasinghe given first, second and third places respectively.
In the semi-finals which was worked off in the afternoon, Yodasinghe finished last.
Yodasinghe’s heat performance was ranked 24th among a field of 58 athletes who faced starter’s orders in eight heats.
His impressive achievement was a massive consolation for Sri Lanka after 400 metres specialist Kalinga Kumarage missed his heat due to a technical issue. Secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics said that Kumarage could not collect his accreditation in time to take part in the heat. He was scheduled to compete in the fifth heat which was won by Canada’s Morales Williams (45.85secs). Only two qualified from that heat. While the second placed Jacory Paterson of USA clocked 45.94 seconds others failed to finish under 47 seconds.
Sri Lanka’s contingent of 12 athletes is the biggest by the country to a World Indoor Athletics Championship. While Yodasinghe, Kumarage and Kaveesha Bandara compete in individual events, others will take part in the men’s and women’s 4×400 metres relay finals.
Former Royal College Colombo hurdler Bandara will compete in the 60 metres hurdles today (Saturday).
The men’s and women’s 4×400 metres relays will take place on Sunday.
In the morning, the championships’ first gold medal was won by Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez who soared to a world lead and national record of 17.80m in the men’s triple jump.
That feat moved him to fifth on the world indoor all-time list, the mark is the third-farthest leap in World Indoor Championships history and the farthest since the 17.90m – then a world indoor record – achieved by Teddy Tamgho at the 2010 edition in Doha
Three years after taking gold in Belgrade, Woo Sanghyeok won his second world indoor high jump title. The Korean was the only athlete to go clear at 2.31m, doing so on his first try. Defending champion and Olympic gold medallist Hamish Kerr was second with 2.28m, taking silver on countback ahead of Jamaica’s Raymond Richards.
by Reemus Fernando
Recent history repeats for first five gold medallists at WIC Nanjing 25
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