Sports

Teenagers close the gap of standards at National Championship

Published

6 months ago

2025/08/6

The 19-year-old Ayomal Akalanka was among the best performers of the meet.

The men’s 400 metres of the 103rd National Athletics Championship saw as many as four teenagers advancing to the final with Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte sprinter Kalhara Idupa securing a well deserving podium place. The obsession of the one lap race has powered schools athletes to be on par with the seniors and close the gap of standards.

It was no surprise as teenagers had already featured alongside seniors at this year’s Asian Championships and the World Indoor Championships in the 4×400 metres relays. Idupa won the silver medal of the men’s 400 metres with a feat of 46.32 seconds.

Sadev Rajakaruna and Omel Shashintha who are 18 and 17 years old respectively finished fourth and fifth. I.M. Bogoda was the other teenager to feature in the final. Rajakaruna also secured a bronze in the 200metres final.

The 400 metres was not the only event that saw teenage heroics. Vishwa Piyumika Dhanasekara another teenager clocked 1:52.72 seconds featuring in the men’s 800m final.

Kalhara Idupa won the silver medal in the
men’s 400 metres.

In endurance events, Ilango Vikirthan from Poovarasankulam Maha Vidyalaya, Vavuniya and Lahiru Achintha of St. Aloysius’ College, Rathnapura stoodout brushing shoulders against seniors. While Vikirthan secured bronze medals in the 5000 metres and 3,000m steeplechase, the 16-year-old Achintha clocked a remarkable time of 15:03.45 seconds to settle for the fourth place in the 5,000m.

Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Ayomal Akalanka was probably the best performer among school athletes in the men’s category at the National Championship. His gold medal winning performance of 50.27 seconds in the 400 metres hurdles rates among the best performers of the meet. He was also adjudged the best hurdler. The 19-year-old Dineth Chethiya was the other athlete to medal with a feat of 2.10 metres in the men’s high jump.

In the women’s category, Senari Wijetunga won silver in the 200m, Nuhansa Kodithuwakku (silver in 800m), Tharushi Abisheka (bronze in 1500m), Shehara Karunarathne (bronze in 400m hurdles), Dewmini Abeyrathna (bronze in high jump) and Dhananjana Fernando (4th in 100m) were among the school athletes to shine.

While the schools athletes have continued to raise the standards, there is certainly a drop in standards in the senior category. Analysts attribute the drop in standards in the senior category to the drop in the number of recruitments by Tri Forces. The Army, Navy and Air Force have been in the forefront of recruiting emerging athletes to their athletics pools yearly. But that has changed drastically during the last few years. Alarm bells are ringing.

by Reemus Fernando

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Buoyant USA look to stay alive in Super Eights race

Published

11 mins ago

2026/02/15

Priyan

USA will hope to keep Group A interesting [Cricinfo]

Whoever wins India vs Pakistan will go through to the Super Eights, which has implcations for the rest of Group A, in particular USA. They’ll want whoever slips up in that match to slip up again. If that happens, a most unlikely team might just find a way through to the next round. In this Valentine’s season, even the T20 World Cup is playing a bit of will they, won’t they.

USA are at the centre of the drama. They came into this tournament with enough administrative upheaval that the ICC had to step in and take charge of their selection. Then they lost one of their batters after he was linked to a corruption incident. Romcom wisdom is ironclad. You always have to be careful around bad boys. India almost weren’t, Netherlands certainly weren’t, and now we have a situation where USA are side-eying the Super Eights. But first they have to beat Namibia, who have played two and lost two and will be looking to channel that hurt into something tangible on the field.

Jan Frylinck made the highest score by a Namibia batter in T20Is when he hit 134 in the Africa Region Qualifier against Nigeria in September 2025. He showed good form in the World Cup warm-up matches last week, scoring 88 against Scotland in Bengaluru. At the tournament proper, he’s made 30 off 26 and 22 off 15 and will want to do more.

Shubnam Ranjane followed up a half-century against Pakistan with an unbeaten 48 off 24 against Netherlands. He exemplifies how the year-round T20 league version of cricket can pull players up. The allrounder who couldn’t break through with Mumbai now has contracts in SA20, ILT20 and MLC and came to the World Cup on the back of a playoffs run with Joburg Super Kings.

Andries Gous is crucial to USA’s batting strength but he hasn’t been able to play their last two matches due to illness. If he recovers, he could come back in for Shayan Jahangir now that Saiteja Mukkamalla has cemented himself at No. 3 with his match-winning fifty against Netherlands.

USA (possible): Monank Patel (capt), Andries Gous/Shayan Jahangir (wk), Saiteja Mukkamalla, Sanjay Krishnamurthi , Shubham Ranjane, Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan.

Seventeen-year-old Max Heingo is obviously a player for the future. But at the present moment, he’s bowled three overs for 40 runs in this tournament and may be at risk of dropping down to the bench.

Namibia (possible): Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (capt), JJ Smit, 6 Zane Green (wk), Malan Kruger, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, Max Heingo.

[Cricinfo]

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Nepal fight to stay alive against in-form West Indies

Published

1 hour ago

2026/02/15

Priyan

West Indies have won both their games so far [Cricinfo]

From being one hit away from beating England to being hammered by T20 World Cup debutants Italy four days later, Nepal have seen the whole spectrum of emotions in Mumbai. Among the Associate teams at this World Cup, Nepal could easily have the biggest travelling contingent of fans, who must be wondering what would have been had Nepal sealed the thriller last Sunday that would have kept them far from their current bottom spot in Group C.

Fans’ expectations and social media distractions are things Nepal head coach Stuart Law has warned his team about, now that they have slipped to a must-win situation. Nepal need to pick themselves up after being trampled by the Mosca brothers to face their table-toppers and the in-form West Indies. This is the same West Indies side Nepal had taken down 2-1 a few months ago in Sharjah, in the first bilateral series between the two teams. But this is, in reality, not the same West Indies side because that one in September was without most of the first-choice players that have turned West Indies’ form around in this tournament after recent series losses against South Africa and Afghanistan at the start of the year.

It might take a mountain to climb for this defeated Nepal side to bring down West Indies, but there is hope. Nepal could learn from their two wins in September – and from Zimbabwe against Australia on Friday – that batting first might be the way to go to put pressure on stronger teams. Ever since West Indies have landed in India, they haven’t been put under the pressure of chasing so far.

Nepal also have the advantage of being stationed only in Mumbai so far, which would have given them a fair idea of the red-soil conditions at Wankhede. Since it’s a day game, Nepal may not mind being put in to bat if the toss doesn’t go their way.

West Indies hardly have any headaches. Their batters are belting sixes, their pace bowlers have picked wickets, their spinners strangled England and they took excellent catches too. They would want to continue their winning streak and seal the Super Eights spot soon.

After being beaten by Michael Leask’s arm ball in their opening match, Shai Hope would have been miffed for falling to a not-so-great ball against England. He bagged a duck and will be eager to lift his strike rate of 76 from the two games – the only West Indies batter who has struck at under 100 – as the tournament picks up pace and teams firm up their plans as per conditions and opposition. Hope will, however, draw confidence from the fact that he has been West Indies’ leading scorer since the last T20 World Cup and their top boundary-hitter too, for both fours and sixes.

Nepal will be looking for a cracking start to overcome their Italian heartbreak, and they don’t need to look any further than opening batter Kushal Bhurtel. He had taken down Jofra Archer and Luke Wood with a boundary barrage against the new ball that saw him smash 29 off 17. He is, however, due a big score and with his jersey number 14 as a dedication to Ricky Ponting, the muscular batter would want to emulate his idol in a crunch match.

West Indies packed a punch against England and won’t feel the need to tinker with their XI on the same ground.

West Indies (probable): Brandon King, Shai Hope (capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph

Nepal captain Rohit Paudel was down with fever on Friday night but should be good to go on Sunday after taking some medicines, Stuart Law said.

Nepal (probable): Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Rohit Paudel (capt), Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Lokesh Bam, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC, Nandan Yadav, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi

[Cricinfo]

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Jansen, Markram hand South Africa statement win

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/15

Priyan

Aiden Markram celebrates a 19-ball fifty [Cricinfo]

Marco Jansen’s first four-wicket haul in T20Is broke the back of two New Zealand assaults to give South Africa an easy win and a likely top spot in Group D. Not that the finish matters as the teams’ games in Super Eights are pre-decided as long as they make it out of the first group.

This was the first successful chase in a night game of this World Cup, but this was also arguably the first night match between evenly matched sides. Having survived Afghanistan in this group of death, both sides played with freedom. New Zealand kept coming at South Africa, reaching 33 for 0 in 3.1 overs, 57 for 1 in 5.1 and then 138 for 4 in 13.5.

However, Jansen pegged New Zealand back every time, the final strike resulting in a practical shutdown: only 37 came off the last 37 balls as New Zealand ran out of batting. In response, Aiden Markram’s personal best of 86 off 44 ended the game with 17 balls to spare, making it 5-0 for them against New Zealand in T20 World Cups.

Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada kept the dangerous duo of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen quiet for two overs, but the eventual onslaught arrived on a pitch where the ball came onto bat beautifully. Allen started off with three fours and a six in the third over, bowled by Ngidi. The powerplay hitting involved no innovation or cuteness, just timing and power.

Jansen’s first ball of the night was dismissed disdainfully for a six over mid-on by Siefert. Jansen immediately went to Plan B. Mid-on went back, leaving no boundary riders on the off side. Siefert looked to exploit that field but Jansen bowled an accurate short ball to take an edge through to the keeper.

Allen didn’t slow down, but then Jansen came back for the last over of the powerplay to take out Rachin Ravindra and Allen. While Ravindra got a thick edge to short third, Allen got too close to a slower offcutter and couldn’t find the elevation to clear mid-off.

Mark Chapman still kept coming, but when Keshav Maharaj bowled Glenn Phillips to make it 64 for 4 in seventh over, New Zealand finally had to go into recovery mode.

To be absolutely accurate, only Mitchell was in recovery mode. Chapman looked in fine touch, and pulled Maharaj for a six two balls after Phillips’ fall. Ngidi managed to bowl the 10th over without a boundary, but in the 11th and 12th the duo took 29. Corbin Bosch was hit for a four by each batter, and Markram a six each. At 131 for 4 in 13, New Zealand were back on track for 200, which looked like the bare minimum to stay competitive.

Jansen had got one wicket with a slower ball already, but on his return he unveiled a knuckle ball, which completely bewitched Chapman, who was 48 off 25 at that point. When Ngidi had Mitchell caught at long-on – for a change, with an on-pace delivery that hit the inner half of the bat – New Zealand had lost six wickets with more than four overs left. Only James Neesham could do some damage in the end but 175 looked paltry with dew already apparent.

It almost looked like a footnote that he brought up the fastest half-century for South Africa in T20 World Cups in 19 balls and took South Africa to their joint-highest powerplay score in t20 World Cups, 83. Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton didn’t do badly either, scoring 20 off 14 and 21 off 11, but it wasn’t possible to take your eye off Markram’s driving.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 175/7 in 20 overs (Tim Siefert 13, Finn Allen 31, Rachin Ravindra 13, Mark Chapman 48, Daryl Mitchell 32, James Neesham 23*;Lungi Ngindi 1-34, Marco Jansen 4-40, Keshav Maharaj 1-24, Corbin Bosch 1-34) lost to South Africa 178/3 in 17.1 overs (Aiden Markram 86*, Quinton de Kock 20, Ryan Rickelton 21, Dewald Brevis 21, David Miller 24*; Lockie Ferguson 1-33, James Neesham 1-15, Rachin Ravindra 1-09) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]