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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Latest News

Rain ends Ireland and Australia’s T20 World Cup hopes

Published

3 hours ago

2026/02/17

Priyan

Constant rain meant play was not possible between Ireland and Zimbabwe on Tuesday [BBC]

Ireland and Australia have both been eliminated from the T20 World Cup as rain prevented play in the Group B game between the Irish and Zimbabwe at Pallekele Cricket Stadium in Kandy.

Zimbabwe’s shock victory over Australia left them needing just a point on Tuesday to advance to the Super 8s with the match being a must-win for Ireland to retain any hope of advancing.

Australia, who suffered an eight wicket defeat to Sri Lanka on Monday, were also banking on a win for Ireland to remain in the hunt for the next phase.

But with the rain unrelenting in Kandy the match was ultimately abandoned with both Ireland and Zimbabwe taking a point apiece.

That left Zimbabwe on five points and Ireland – whose four-game campaign is complete – on three, with Australia sitting on two and just one game remaining against Oman on Friday (13:30 GMT) which is now a dead rubber.

Zimbabwe will take on Sri Lanka in Colombo on Thursday (09:30 GMT) with the winner topping Group B, but they are both guaranteed a place in the next phase of the tournament.

[BBC Sports]

Latest News

Samra’s record 110 in vain as Phillips and Ravindra put New Zealand in Super Eights

Published

7 hours ago

2026/02/17

Priyan

Yuvraj Samra broke many records on his way to 110 off 65 balls [Cricinfo]

Yuraj Samra’s record-breaking hundred went in vain as New Zealand beat Canada by eight wickets in Chennai to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Batting first, Canada posted a competitive 173 for 4, thanks to Samra’s 110 off 65 balls, the highest score by an Associate batter against a Full Member in the tournament’s history. At 19 years and 141 days, the left-hand opener also became the youngest to cross 50 in a men’s T20 World Cup match.

Canada’s bowlers and fielders, though, let them down. They did send back Tim Seifert and Finn Allen inside the first four overs, but Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra snatched the game away from them and ran away with it.

Phillips smashed 76 not out off 36 balls and Ravindra 59 not out off 39. The two added 146 off just 73 balls for the third wicket and took New Zealand home with 4.5 overs to spare.

Matt Henry started the proceedings with four dots to Samra but the opener got going with back-to-back fours off the last two deliveries. Samra faced only five balls in the next four overs but took James Neesham down in the final over of the powerplay. With Neesham operating from around the wicket, he pulled to fine leg, muscled over midwicket, drilled down the ground, and slashed over the covers after coming down the ground. The first three went for fours, the last carried all the way.

Samra kept the scoreboard ticking even after the powerplay. He smashed Kyle Jamieson’s slower ball through extra cover before pulling Cole McConchie for a flat six. Soon, he reached his fifty, off 36 balls.

New Zealand were without Lockie Ferguson and Mitchell Santner. Ferguson has returned home for the birth of his first child and Santner was ruled out because of a “dodgy burger”. In their absence, New Zealand’s bowling attack looked toothless, and Samra took full advantage of it. He started the 13th over by smashing McConchie for 6, 6, 4. Dilpreet Bajwa and he added 116 in 14 overs for the first wicket; Bajwa’s contribution was only 36 off 39 balls.

Samra brought up his hundred off 58 balls, getting there with a toe-ended four past short third. He had a reprieve on 103 when Neesham dropped him at long-on off Henry. The ball burst through Neesham’s hands and went for four. Samra was eventually dismissed in the final over, caught at deep-backward square-leg by Phillips on the second attempt.

Canada’s indiscipline with the ball was evident from the very first over. Jaskaran Singh’s second delivery was down the leg side, which Allen helped to the fine-leg boundary. It was followed by an off-side wide and a front-foot no-ball. Allen attempted a quick single off the latter. The short midwicket fielder missed with the throw at the bowler’s end, and a sloppy effort from the fielder backing up resulted in four overthrows.

Allen then took apart Dilon Heyliger, hitting his first two balls for a four and a six. Seifert also threw his bat around and got one over the covers. Shivam Sharma, the chasing fielder, was casual in his effort near the boundary line and failed to flick the ball back.

Saad Bin Zafar provided temporary relief by having Seifert caught at mid-off. When Allen was caught in the covers off a Heyliger delivery that stuck in the pitch, New Zealand were 30 for 2 in 3.1 overs. But Canada continued to be profligate in the field. Bajwa started the fifth over with a no-ball, and also bowled a wide before Ravindra hit him for two fours in three balls. That allowed New Zealand to finish the powerplay on 60 for 2.

Phillips took the lead after the powerplay. He hit Saad for back-to-back fours before launching Bajwa for a straight six. When Ansh Patel came on to bowl, Phillips treated him with the same disdain, hitting the left-arm wristspinner for three sixes in eight balls. The last of those sixes brought up Phillips’ fifty, off 22 balls.

By the end of the 11th over, New Zealand needed only 53 from 54 balls. Phillips, though, was in a hurry. Against Saad, he switched his hands and pulled him for a six over deep extra-cover, even though there was a fielder at the boundary line. Ravindra, who had taken the backseat, finished the over with another six. A few minutes later, he pulled Jaskaran through midwicket to bring up the victory.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 176 for 2 in 15.1 overs (Finn Allen 21, Glenn Phillips 76*, Rachin Ravindra 59*, Dilon Heyliger 1-42, Saad Bin Jaffar 1-29) beat Canada 173 for 4 in 20 overs (Yuraj Samra 110, Dilpreet Bajwa 36, Navneet Dhaliwal 10; Matt Henry 1-28, Jacob Duffy 1-25, Kyle Jamieson 1-41, James Neesham 1-38) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Canada reacts as cheating row rocks curling superpower

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/17

Priyan

Canada's Marc Kennedy was accused of double-touching stones when he released them [BBC]

A scandal at the Winter Olympics has left the Canadian curling teams on the defensive and Canadians reeling over the crack in their country’s polite persona.

Over the weekend, Canadian curler Marc Kennedy had an expletive-filled outburst after Sweden accused him of cheating during a match, and later said his team might be the target of a “premeditated” attack by their rivals.

Kennedy was accused of “double-touching” – touching the stone a second time after initially releasing it down the ice. The next day, Canadian women’s captain Rachel Holman was accused of using the same move.

Both have denied the accusations, but Canada’s curling teams, who historically have dominated the sport, now face questions over their tactics.

While the curlers have shown their anger over the situation during matches, fans of the sport and Canadians have questioned whether the team acted in the spirit of curling.

“It’s a sad day for Canadian sport,” Tim Gray, from Alberta, told the BBC. “Integrity in the sport is important, even if you have to call it on yourself.”

An opinion piece in the Canadian news outlet, the Globe and Mail, pointed to some of the frustration: “These Canadian curling teams are not fun bad guys. They come off like the sort of competitors who need so desperately to win that they will do anything – even things that are pointless – in order to get there.”

Cathal Kelly, the writer of the opinion piece, continued: “There’s an easy way out of this – stop struggling. Stop acting like our curling reputation matters more than our national one. Be the bigger man and woman, even if you don’t think you did anything wrong.”

The controversy began on Friday when Swedish player Oskar Eriksson accused Kennedy of double-touching.

As the game continued, Kennedy and Eriksson got into a verbal back-and-forth that included expletives.

Their exchange quickly went viral as a video appearing to show Kennedy touching the stone on occasion.

Kennedy got a verbal warning from World Curling for using foul language, but he was not formally charged with cheating by the governing body.

The next day Kennedy said: “I probably could have handled it better. But we’re human out there and there’s a lot of emotions. I’m not going to apologise for defending my teammates and standing up for myself.”

“I’ve curled my whole life, never once with the intention of getting an advantage through cheating,” he added.

Then, Canadian curling had another instance of purported cheating.

Match officials accused the Canadian women’s team on Saturday of the same double-touch violation.

Rachel Homan who said there was a “zero percent chance” of the violation, as she and her teammates looked on frustratingly. The Canadians lost to the Swiss, 8-7.

On Sunday, Great Britain’s men’s team was accused of the same violation.

Both Homan and British men’s curler Bobby Lammie had stones removed from play due to alleged violations.

Homan later slammed the officials’ decision to remove her stone during a defeat to Switzerland, saying it was “insane”.

All of the incidents led World Curling to clarify that double-tapping is not allowed.

“During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play,” they said.

World Curling does not use video to review play, but they did send two officials to monitor how players released their stones in subsequent games.

“Following a meeting with representatives of the competing National Olympic Committees, an update in the stone monitoring protocol has been confirmed, beginning with the evening session on Sunday 15 February,” World Curling said in a statement.

“This change in protocol will see the two umpires who had previously been actively monitoring athlete deliveries remain available in the field of play, but will now only monitor athlete deliveries at the request of the competing teams.”

AFP via Getty Images Canada's Rachel Homan (centre) delivers the stone during the curling women's round robin between Canada and Switzerland on 14 February 2026. — *Canada’s Rachel Homan slammed the officials’ decision to remove her stone [BBC]*

Reaction to the controversy in Canada has been mixed.

“Do I think the finger affects the rock, no I do not,” Ankara Leonard from the Royal Montreal Curling Club told the BBC. “Do I think we have to play within the rules? Yes.”

While curling columnist and Olympian Tomi Rantamaki, in an article for The Curling News, warned that Canada’s dominance in the world of curling means its players should be mindful of the influence they have.

“Young players in Finland, Korea, Italy, Sweden – everywhere – often copy what Canadian teams do. They copy the athlete’s delivery, the sweeping, the tactics, the communication,” Rantamaki wrote. “And they copy the behaviour.”

[BBC]