Sports
Sri Lanka’s World Cup semi-final hopes fade away
Rex Clementine
in Bombay
After a clinical performance against defending champions England, Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign was back on track, but Monday’s loss to Afghanistan in Pune has brought it back to square one.
When Sri Lanka travelled to Pune, they had four games remaining and had to win at least three of those to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stage of the competition.
Now that they lost to Afghanistan, their chances of making it to the semi-finals are slim as they have got to win the remaining three games and hope the results of other games too go in their favour.
Even if other results go in their favour, it is hard to think that Sri Lanka will overcome India, who have been unbeaten in this competition.
India have been rarely tested in this tournament and their bowling attack has posed many challenges to the opposition.
Sri Lanka’s top order in this tournament has done fairly well with Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama amidst runs. It is the middle order that has been a flop with Charith Asalanka managing just one half-century in six games and Dhananjaya de Silva not been able to reach 50 even once.
If the top order failed to deliver, middle and lower middle order are unable to handle the pressure and that has been a huge drawback in this competition.
Now that hope of making it to the semi-finals has slipped away, Sri Lanka’s next aim should be to ensure that they do not get thrown out of the Champions Trophy to be played in 2025.
The two bottom placed teams in this tournament will not take part in Champions Trophy that will be hosted by Pakistan in two years’ time.
The Indian team had a training session yesterday at the Wankhede Stadium where Thursday’s clash against Sri Lanka will take place.
Sri Lanka were travelling to Bombay from Pune yesterday and did not train. They are expected to conduct a training session today at Wankhede.
Wankhede was also the venue for the epic 2011 World Cup final between Sri Lanka and India which the hosts won.
Since then, Sri Lanka have played just two games here – two T-20s both of which they lost to India. The most recent game was early this year when they went down to India by two runs.
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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