Sports
Ushan, Sarangi, Nilani open season with remarkable feats
by Reemus Fernando
Long jumper Sarangi Silva, steeplechase athlete Nilani Ratnayake and US based high jumper Ushan Thivanka opened their 2022 season producing remarkable performances that will boost country’s chances at forthcoming major international multi sports events.
Silva established a new national record in the women’s long jump as she twice lowered her own national mark on the final day of the first Selection Trial at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Saturday. The South Asian Games gold medallist cleared 6.65 metres to establish the new national record. The performance will augur well for the athlete who is aspiring to achieve success at this year’s Asian Games.
What was remarkable in Sarangi’s achievement was the consistency. All of her four legal jumps were measured over six metres and two of them were over the previous record mark.
Sarangi had 6.48 metres as her national record from last year. Her four legal jumps on Saturday were measured at 6.51m, 6.65m, 6.16m and 6.37m. Incidentally, the gold medal of the last Asian Games women’s long jump was (Bùi Th? Thu Th?o of Vietnam) decided by a performance of 6.55 metres.
Ratnayake, who missed the Tokyo Olympics after being a strong contender for a better part of the last year, returned a time of nine minutes and 47.47 seconds to complete the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase event at the Selection Trial. Lack of competition made her compete against herself and she came almost close to breaking her national record (9:46.76 secs) established in 2018. The impressive feat now warrants a place in the elite pool as she has come within medal winning performances at Asian level. At world level so far only two athletes have run the distance below ten minutes this year.
The US based high jumper Ushan Thivanka meanwhile commenced his season with a 2.25 metres performance at an indoor meet there. Thivanka was among the highest ranked Sri Lankan athletes last year, though he could not make it to the Olympics after running short of quality competitions to improve his world rankings. Thivanka’s impressive 2.25 metres feat will rank among the top ten Indoor performances of the world this year. In the Asian region he will have a close competitor from neighboring India as Tejaswin Shankar has a 2.25 metres from last December.
Sri Lanka will have a number of international competitions this year including the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. Country’s track and field athletes have not excelled at the Asian Games during recent times despite history’s highest number of Games medal coming from that sport. Sri Lanka Athletics will be looking forward to enter a strong team for the Asian Games. With the all three above mentioned athletes having shown promise early in the season things look bright for track and field as better performances could be expected later in the season.
The BCB has said that they will rely on the Bangladesh government’s directive before finalising their tour to Pakistan later this month. Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play five T20Is there from May 25 to June 3, but the PSLs schedule was revised following cross-border tensions between Pakistan and India.
According to the revised fixtures, the PSL final will now be held on May 25, when Pakistan and Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play the first T20I.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that the PCB has sent a new schedule for the T20Is between Pakistan and Bangladesh, with the first match now slotted for May 27, and the last on June 5.
BCB’s media committee chairman Iftekhar Rahman said they will rely on information from government security agencies and the Bangladesh high commission in Islamabad to take the final decision.
“Once we receive official communication about the dates and venues [of the tour], we will forward it to the government,” Rahman said. “The BCB is not the decision-maker in this matter. If the government agencies and our embassy declare Pakistan safe for travel, only then will we proceed.
“In our previous meeting, we agreed that any such situation would be referred to the foreign and home ministries. Once we get clearance from all relevant bodies, we will finalise the tour. Security concerns were more significant in the past, but Pakistan has proven it can ensure safety. Still, given the current circumstances, we need to assess whether the situation across the country is stable before sending the team.”
Before playing Pakistan, Bangladesh are scheduled to play two T20Is against UAE in Sharjah on May 17 and 19. They were then supposed to fly to Lahore on May 21.
[Cricinfo]
Apna Perera won his third title of the 110th Colombo Championships as he partnered Dhilvan Herath to beat Dumindu Dilum and Chehan Fernando in the open men’s doubles final.
Apna and Dhilvan registered 6-2, 6-2 win in the final.
Apna, the open men’s singles champion, was also the winner of the mixed doubles which was played according to round robin method. In the mixed doubles Apna partnered Inuki Jayaweera.
Results
Men’s doubles semi-finals
Apna Perera and Dhilvan Herath beat Ashen Silva and Lithum Jayabandu 6-1, 6-2
Dumindu Dilum and Chehan Fernando beat Methika Wickramasinghe and Vichinthya Nilaweera 6-3, 2-6, 10-4.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) recently carried out a Fast Bowling Talent Search program in the Polonnaruwa District as part of its ongoing efforts to identify and nurture emerging cricketing talent across the country.
The program, held at the Royal College Ground, Polonnaruwa, attracted over 60 promising young players—both boys and girls—including school cricketers of the district. Each participant underwent skill assessments to evaluate their fast bowling potential.
Following the evaluations, 20 talented bowlers were selected for further development.
The selected players will now receive structured training under the guidance of Provincial coaches of Sri Lanka Cricket, with a focus on refining their techniques and enhancing their overall performance.
Those who continue to demonstrate consistent improvement will be given the opportunity to join SLC’s district squads, thereby becoming part of the official National Pathway Program.
This initiative is a part of SLC’s ‘Cricket Gamata’, program which aims to find talent from rural areas across Sri Lanka.
The talent assessments were conducted by Lasantha Lakmin, SLC Talent Scout for the North Central and North Western Provinces; Lakshitha Herath, North Central Provincial Women’s Coach; and Saman Senanayake, North Central Provincial Fast Bowling Coach.
The event was organized by the North Central Provincial Cricket Association under the guidance of Sri Lanka Cricket. It was managed by Krishan Anandakumar, Manager of the Center of Excellence, Dambulla.
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