Sports

School athletes’ prospects at National Athletics Championship

Published

5 years ago

2020/12/25

by Reemus Fernando

When the track and field sport resumes action this weekend after more than a year on the sidelines due to the Covid 19 pandemic, not only the top national athletes who are going to benefit. While the elite senior athletes compete to achieve qualifying standards for the Olympics and other international events, a host of school athletes vying against their senior counterparts will strive to weigh in their strengths in a bid to compete locally and internationally in 2021.

The Covid 19 pandemic prevented many an international sports event, including the Olympics, taking place in 2020. But the world sports governing bodies who postponed or cancelled such events are preparing to conduct events in 2021. The World Under-20 Athletics Championship which was to be held in Nairobi in July this year has now been rescheduled in 2021. School athletes who could not compete at junior national level due to the absence of competitions this year will take the 98th National Athletics Championship staring on Saturday as a platform to measure how well they have prepared to achieve entry standards for such events.

Youth Asian Championship medallist Navishka Sandesh is among a host of young sprinters aspiring to achieve entry standards for the World Junior event. The St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa sprinter clocked 47.96 seconds in the Under-18 boys’ 400 metres semi final at the Junior National Championship in 2019 to establish a new meet record. The strong competition in the senior category will augur well for the young hopeful as he will be lining up against South Asian Games medallist Aruna Dharshana and company.

Sprinter Milinda Perera is another schools aspirant who will have World Under-20 Championship entry standards on the back of his mind when he competes against seniors. The St. Mary’s College, Chilaw sprinter was the Under-18 200 metres champion at the last Junior Nationals. He will be competing in the men’s 100 and 200 metres alongside former national record holders and current national record holders. Lumbini’s Chalith Piyumal who was placed second behind Perera in the 200 metres will also be another young hopeful vying against seniors at the four day event. He had a feat of 22.22 seconds at the last Junior National finals.

In the women’s sprint events, most of the school athletes who won podium places at the last Junior Nationals (2019) make the majority in this senior National event, though one of the top contenders, Sadeepa Henderson will be conspicuous by her absence. Most of the sprinters trained by veteran coach Sunil Gunawardena have skipped the Nationals after the event was postponed to December.

2019 Asian Youth Championship bronze medallist Amesha Hettiarachchi is one of the top school hurdlers competing against seniors at this meet. The Viharamahadevi Balika, Kandy hurdler was the winner of both the Under-18 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles at the last Junior Nationals. Hettiarachchi established a new record in her pet event clocking 61.71 seconds in the heats. Her bronze medal performance at the Asian Youth Championship was 61.42 seconds. She has to slash nearly one second off her last personal best over the higher hurdle if she is to achieve entry standards.

Holy Cross College, Gampaha athlete Shanika Lakshani who won the Under-18 800 metres at the last Junior Nationals will feature in both the 800 metres and the 400 metres. The Asian Youth Championship participant will have a tough ask in her pet event against seasoned campaigners but that battle will help her strive for the World Under 20 championship entry standards. Sri Lanka Athletics has included a number of junior school athletes on merit for the corresponding boys’ event as well as there are potential athletes who could make the most of the opportunity.

School athletes will form nearly one third of participants in the women’s category at the 98th National Athletics Championships. Though school athletes will not be among the favourites it will be an invaluable opportunity for the budding athletes who were without competitions to prove their potential.

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Bangladesh bans IPL broadcast over Mustafizur row

Published

6 hours ago

2026/01/6

Priyan

The Bangladesh government has banned the broadcast of IPL 2026 in the country as a response to the BCCI’s decision to pull Mustafizur Rahman out of the tournament.

A statement from the ministry of information and broadcasting said that it had “noted that no reason was communicated for the decision behind Mustafizur Rahman’s exclusion [from the IPL]” and that the development had “caused distress among the people of Bangladesh”. The decision had been taken “in public interest”, it said.

The statement was signed by the ministry’s assistant secretary Firoz Khan.

TV channels and streaming platforms have broadcast the IPL in Bangladesh since its inception in 2008. This is also the first time that the Bangladesh government has banned the telecast of an international cricket tournament, anywhere in the world.

On Saturday, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the team that bought Mustafizur at the IPL auction in December, released him following instructions from the BCCI. The BCCI did not specify a reason – its secretary Devajit Saikia mentioned “recent developments” and did not elaborate.

Over the past few days, Indian spiritual and political leaders had criticised KKR and their owner Shah Rukh Khan for including Mustafizur in their line-up at a time when, according to reports, Hindu minorities are being attacked in Bangladesh. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since.

Bangladesh are already petitioning the ICC to shift their T20 World Cup matches out of India. No decision has been made on that front yet. The original schedule has Bangladesh opening their campaign against West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 7.

Dr Asif Nazrul, who is currently the sports adviser to the Bangladesh government, said on Saturday evening that the IPL shouldn’t be shown in Bangladesh. Following that post on social media, the country’s information adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said any decision to stop broadcasting IPL in Bangladesh would be taken after reviewing the legal basis and thoroughly examining the relevant procedures.

Later on Sunday evening, the BCB confirmed that it has written to the ICC seeking relocation of Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup matches from India, likely to Sri Lanka, the other hosts of the tournament. They have reportedly also written to the BCCI seeking an explanation about Mustafizur’s withdrawal.

While there has been an unspoken ban in the IPL on players from Pakistan for many years now, several Bangladesh players have taken part in the tournament. Mustafizur was the only one picked by a team for the upcoming season, and has been an IPL regular since 2016, with Shakib Al Hasan (KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad) the other prominent import from the country. Both of them have experience winning the title too.

Abdur Razzak (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Mohammad Ashraful (Mumbai Indians), Mashrafe Mortaza (KKR), Tamim Iqbal (the now-defunct Pune Warriors India) and Litton Das (KKR) are the others from Bangladesh who have been a part of the IPL in previous years. The new season begins on March 26.

(Cricinfo)

Sports

Rehan scores century as Royal amass 347 against Petes

Published

6 hours ago

2026/01/6

Sahan Weerasooriya

Under 19 Cricket

Rehan Peiris produced his best batting performance of the season, a valuable 125, as Royal amassed 347 against St. Peter’s on day one of the Under 19 Division I tier ‘A’ match at Bambalapitiya on Monday.

‎At Asgiriya, Mahanama bowlers produced a dominant performance against Trinity.

‎Trinity were six wickets down for 43 runs at one stage before Praveen Mithila and Santhosh Kritheekshan made vital contributions for them to post 153 runs.

‎While five half centuries powered St. Joseph’s to 344 runs against St. Sebastians’ at Moratuwa, Nalanda struggled to post 226 against Prince of Wales at Campbell Place as Nadul Aponso picked up six wickets for the visitors.

‎‎Day one Scores

Royal 347, St. Peter’s 54/2 at Bambalapitiya

‎Scores

‎Royal 347 all out in 80 overs (Rehan Peiris 125, Thevindu Wewalwala 20, Manuth Dasanayake 71, Himaru Deshan 58; Thenura Dissanayake 2/74, Janith Panditharathne 6/103)

‎St. Peter’s

54 for 2 in 10 overs (Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi 2/07)

‎

‎Mahanama bowlers dominate at Asgiriya

‎Scores

‎Trinity

153 all out in 52.3 overs (Praveen Mithila 47, Santhosh Kritheekshan 34; Geeth Sandaruwan 3/33, Thenuja Rashmin 3/35, Venura Kaveethra 2/34)

‎Mahanama

5 for 1 in six overs

‎

‎Nadul’s six wickets restrict Nalanda at Campbell Place

‎Scores

‎Nalanda 226 all out in 79 overs (Nadul Jayalath 25, Santhul Wijerathna 46, Nemindu Akmeemana 27, Osanda Pamuditha 66, Dunitha Anusara 40; Nadul Aponso 6/53, Nethul Anuhas 4/67)

‎Prince of Wales

50 for no loss in 16 overs (Palingu Perera 24n.o., Suwas Fernando 25n.o.)

‎

‎Five half centuries proppel Joes to 344 at Moratuwa

‎‎Scores

‎St. Joseph’s

344 all out in 79.1 overs (Yenula Danthanarayana 74, Aveesha Samash 52, Rishma Amarasinghe 90, Chethina Kavinda 70, Dilpa Ruwanaka 28; Koshendra Fernando 5/115, Shenash Hashein3/51, Navinu Fernando2/65)

‎St. Sebastians’ 37 for 3 in 13 overs (Nushan Perera 2/06)

by Reemus Fernando

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Curran, bowlers lead Desert Vipers to maiden ILT20 title

Published

1 day ago

2026/01/5

Priyan

The victorious Desert Vipers team hold the trophy aloft (Cricinfo)

After two heartbreaks, it was third time lucky for Desert Vipers as they broke the final hoodoo, defeating MI Emirates by 46 runs to claim their maiden ILT20 title in Dubai.

The win was headlined by captain Sam Curran, who held the Vipers innings together with an unbeaten 74 off 51 balls. He was helped by Max Holden (41 off 32) and Dan Lawrence (23 off 15) as Vipers notched up an impressive 182 for 4 in their 20 overs.

MIE never got their chase going, losing wickets at regular intervals. Naseem Shah was at his fiery best, picking up 3 for 18 in his four overs, while Usman Tariq curbed the runs in the middle overs, returning 2 for 20. David Payne also picked up 3 for 42, all three of his wickets coming in an over, as MIE were bowled out for 136 in 18.3 overs. It was fitting that the most consistent team of the season took home the title.

Vipers’ win means that ILT20 has now had a different winner in each of the first four seasons – Gulf Giants, MIE, Dubai Capitals and now Vipers.

Fakhar Zaman didn’t take time to go after Shakib Al Hasan, depositing him over wide long-on second ball of the innings. MIE were sloppy with their fielding, and both Fakhar and Jason Roy cashed in. After Fakhar collected a boundary off first ball off AM Ghazanfar, Roy hit left-arm quick Muhammad Rohid for back-to-back fours as Vipers raced to 34 for 0 after three overs. But Fazalhaq Farooqi helped MIE hit back with a double-wicket opening over.

Roy first flat-batted a short-of-a-length delivery straight to short midwicket before Farooqi cleaned up Fakhar with a peach of an inducker that pitched just outside off and swung back in breaching the opener’s defenses. Curran took five balls to get off the mark but closed out the powerplay in style with three straight fours off Farooqi as Vipers reached 59 for 2 in six overs.

While Holden took his time to settle, Curran kept the scorecard ticking. He pulled offspinner Tajinder Singh twice through midwicket before guiding Kieron Pollard past short third. Holden, going just about a run-a-ball, found his groove as well as he took Tajinder inside out over covers and then planted him over long-on as Vipers raced past 100 in the 12th over.

Mystery spinner Arab Gul broke the 89-run third-wicket stand by accounting for Holden but Lawrence ensured the momentum wasn’t lost. He smoked Gul over covers second ball before Curran reached his fifty off 39 balls as Vipers eyed a late push. That came via a 21-run 18th over with Curran and Lawrence sending Romario Shepherd over the fence three times. Vipers collected 46 runs off the last four overs to breach the 180-mark.

Muhammad Waseem, MIE’s star of the ILT20, started the chase briskly. He clubbed Payne over deep midwicket, while Andre Fletcher sent fast bowler Khuzaima Tanveer straight down the ground for six. Though Fletcher fell, mistiming Naseem to deep midwicket, Waseem kept going. He pulled Naseem through midwicket and then edged Curran past the wicketkeeper. But a flurry of wickets dented MIE’s chase.

Naseem struck for the second time when his pacy indipper had Tom Banton’s bat turning in his hand for a simple catch to Curran at mid-on for 7. Tanveer then got the prized scalp of his countryman Waseem, who in a bid to steer the ball fine, could only manage a thick edge to the wicketkeeper as MIE stumbled to 46 for 3 in six overs. Tariq then got into the act, sending back Sanjay Krishnamurthi. Having managed just 2 off 8, Krishnamurthi tried to pull Tariq over deep midwicket but could only manage a miscue and Hassan Nawaz completed a stunning diving catch low to his right.

With the required rate touching close to 11, it was down to the two experienced heads Shakib and Pollard to try and conjure some magic. They added 60 off 45 balls, but Vipers maintained their lines, not giving much away on a surface which had something for the bowlers throughout. With the required rate almost 14 at the start of the 16th over, Shakib tried to haul Tariq over long-on but failed to generate enough power with Tanveer doing the rest.

Pollard fell six balls later and with that went MIE’s chances of a second title. Payne picked up three wickets in an over before Tanveer closed the chase, sparking wild celebrations in the Vipers dugout. MIE lost their last six wickets for just 22 runs in 3.3 overs to go down in a heap.

Brief scores:

Desert Vipers 182 for 4 in 20 overs (Fakhar Zaman 20, Janson Roy 11, Sam Curran 74*, Max Holden 41, Dan Lawrence 23; Fazalhaq Farooqi 2-33, Arab Gul 1-14) beat MI Emirates 136 in 18.3 overs (Muhammed Waseem 26, Andre Fletcher 10, Shakib Al Hasan 36, Kieron Pollard 28, Tajinder Singh 12; Naseem Shah 3-18, Davi Payne 3-42, Khuzaima Tanveer 2-22, Usman Tariq 2-20) by 46 runs

(Cricinfo)