Sports
Unbeaten Southern Stars shine as favourites
Li Ning – Lanka Shuttle Challenge
by Reemus Fernando
Southern Stars led by Sachin Dias advanced to the semi finals as favourites by keeping their unbeaten tag intact on day three of the inaugural Li Ning – Lanka Shuttle Challenge in Colombo on Friday.
Southern Stars won all their five ties to collect five points and were the only unbeaten team in the tournament. Western Warriors captained by Kavidi Sirimannage was the only team to pose a serious threat to the Southern Stars as they almost beat them in their tie on Thursday. Southern Stars had a slender two point lead over the Warriors to retain their unbeaten status.
The second placed Warriors, who won four out of the five ties, Central Crusaders and Island Titans were the other teams to advance to the semi finals which will be played today.
According to the semi-final draw Southern Stars are set to meet Western Warriors in the first match while Central Crusaders encounter Island Titans. The winners of the first semi final (between the top two teams) will advance to the final. The looser will meet the winner of the second match between Central Crusaders and Island Titans for a place in the final on Sunday.
The first two matches will be played simultaneously at the Sri Lanka Badminton Association and Mercantile Badminton Association courts starting at 9.00am.
Central Crusaders skippered by Buwaneka Gunetileke collected three points after recording victories against Eastern Eagles, Northern Knights and Island Titans. In their last tie yesterday, they beat Island Titans 5-2 and had an aggregate of 273 against 214 collected by the Titans. However despite yesterday’s defeat, Titans led by Dinuka Karunaratne secured a deserving place in the semis. Dinuka, in his only match yesterday, paired Nadeesha in the mixed doubles to beat Buwaneka and Hasara.
However, his brother and Tokyo Olympic hopeful Niluka had to bow out from the tournament without reaching the business end as the Northern Knights were placed fifth after securing just a solitary tie win. In a competition between brothers on Thursday, Niluka won the singles for Northern Knights but Titans won the tie.
Delhi Capitals rode on their captain’s incredible knock of 88 from 43 balls to eke out a narrow four-run victory over Gujarat Titans, despite the best efforts of Sai Sudharsan, David Miller and Rashid Khan to stop the hosts from doing the double over them. Pant’s knock, along with Axar Patel’s essay (66 off 43) and Tristan Stubbs’s late cameo (26 off 7) turbo-charged DC’s innings well past the 200-run mark, and yet proved to be just about enough to pick the two points in the end.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 224/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 88*, Axar Patel 66, Jake Fracer-McGurk 23, Tristan Stubbs 26*; Sandeep Warrier 3-15, Noor Ahmad 1-36) beat Gujarat Titans 220/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 65, David Miller 55, Wriddhiman Saha 39, Rashid Khan 21*; Anrich Nortje 1-48, Rasikh Salam 3-44, Mukesh Kumar 1-41, Axar Patel 1-28, Kuldeep Yadav 2-29) by 4 runs
Asian Junior Athletics Championships
by Reemus Fernando
Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Ayomal Akalanka who was included in the team at the eleventh hour qualified for the finals of the men’s 400 metres hurdles as he came almost close to matching his personal best time on day one of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Dubai on Wednesday.
Akalanka clocked 52.96 seconds to finish second in his heat and qualify for the finals.
Sri Lanka Athletics decided to drop him from the team after the Commonwealth Youth Game medallist failed to reach qualifying standards at the trials. He was included at the eleventh hour on the request of the Sports Minister who heeded an appeal. Akalanka will compete in the final on Friday.
Young Tharushi Abisheka provided the Sri Lankan team a morale boosting start as she qualified for the final of the women’s 800 metres in the morning.
Abisheka is the youngest member in the team and is eligible even to compete at the next edition of this Under 20 event in 2026. The Wickramabahu National School Gampola athlete finished third in her heat and will carry the third fastest time to the final which will be held on Friday.
In the men’s 100 metres, Merone Wijesinghe of Ananda College Colombo finished fourth in his heat.
When this edition went to press women’s team captain Madushani Herath of Nannapurawa MV Bibila was competing in the women’s triple jump.
Sri Lanka fielded a team of 17 athletes including four relay teams for the four-day regional event.
Saneshi Willoraarachchi won three titles at the Bandarawela Open Ranking Tennis Tournament.
The Musaeus College player won the women’s open singles, women’s open doubles and the Under 18 girls’ doubles.
She beat Inuki Jayaweera 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s open singles final and joined the latter to score a 4-2, 5-4 win in the doubles final against Lihini Jayakody and Diyana de Silva.
Saneshi and Inuki overcame a first set defeat to beat Gehansa Methnadi and Sandithi Usgodaarachchi 0-4, 5-4, 10-6 for the Under 18 doubles title.
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