Sports
Ushan skips competition in US, shifts focus to meet in Kazakhstan to strive for Olympic qualifying standards
by Reemus Fernando
High jumper Ushan Thivanka will skip the weekend’s competition in US due to health concerns but will continue his fight to earn qualifying standards for Tokyo Olympics. He was ready to take a long costly trip to Washington to obtain visas for the crucial championship in Kazakhstan where he will get a final opportunity to strive for the Olympic berth.
The US based high jumper told The Island that he would skip the weekend’s competition in the US after his doctor advised against competing. He said instead he will now focus on competing in the championship in Kazakhstan.
Sri Lanka Athletics decided to send country’s top notch athletes who are closer to qualifying standards to the competition in Kazakhstan with the hope of giving them a final opportunity to impress.
Thivanka who has improved by leaps and bounds after earning a scholarship to the Texas A&M University–Commerce is currently placed 49th in the Road to Olympics rankings. He needs to be within the first 32 in that rankings or achieve a height of 2.33 metres to obtain a direct qualification to the Tokyo event.
Ushan cleared 2.30 metres to improve his national record last month but could not produce his best at last weekend’s Division II Athletics Championship in the US as the championship was held in unfavorable cold weather conditions in Michigan.
“The service of a doctor has been made available to me by the University after I cleared 2.28 metres. The doctor’s advice is to skip the weekend’s competition. That leaves me with just one option that is to compete in Kazakhstan (to reach Olympic qualifying standards). Sri Lanka Athletics has done the documentation work for me to obtain visas but I have to make a long trip to Washington if I am to obtain visas for Kazakhstan. I will have to do that since that is the last opportunity I have,” said Ushan.
Country’s track and field athletes will have three weeks (until June 29) to reach qualifying standards but lack of quality competitions to produce their best has diminished their chances.
While steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake has almost secured her ticket (35th in the Road to Olympics rankings) to Olympics, thrower Sumeda Ranasinghe (43rd) is the closest to entry standards in the men’s category. Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon, who is likely to compete in a few meets in Europe before the qualifying deadline closes, is ranked 60th in the Road To Olympics rankings.
After a 17-wicket Day 1, Australia’s bowlers were made to do the hard yards without anything to show for it on as KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal hit fifties to put India on top in the Perth Test. The openers took the first-innings lead of 46 – earned through a Jasprit Bumrah fifer – and stretched it past 200 by the end of day’s play.
The day began with Jasprit Bumrah quickly ending Australia’s hopes of a big comeback by dismissing the in-form Alex Carey off the first ball he bowled. Carey came in with runs under his belt in first class cricket, but nicked one to Rishabh Pant in the second over of the day. India bowled with a spring in their step as Harshit Rana operated from the other end, bantering Mitchell Starc and making Nathan Lyon smell leather with short deliveries.
Lyon gloved one such bouncer to KL Rahul at third slip to leave Australia nine down for 79. Then began a stubborn final-wicket stand worth 25 runs across 18 overs – the best of the Aussie innings – between Starc and Josh Hazlewood that allowed the hosts to go past 100. Rana returned to end the innings on 104 with the wicket of Starc, giving India a vital 46-run lead.
The Australian quicks got the ball to seam a lot lesser in the second innings, paving the way for an excellent opening stand between Rahul and Jaiswal that saw them score patient fifties and gain control of the proceedings. The duo started out watchfully – Rahul continued to play inside the line of the ball and with soft hands, and Jaiswal curbed his urge to look for quick runs, before making hay in bright sunshine and on a flattened out surface. They took their chances against Cummins, cutting and pulling him for fours. Jaiswal even comfortably pulled off an uppercut off a short ball from the Australian captain. Short burst of a spell from Nathan Lyon was also dealt with ease, as they took India to the next break without any damage.
They kept that up in the final session too, even as the ball began to take uneven bounce. Rahul became just the second batter after Virender Sehwag to be involved in three 100-plus opening stands in SENA countries since 2000. There were a couple of instances Australia came close to breaking through – Starc got Jaiswal to nick one towards Usman Khawaja at first slip. The ball got low on him and he failed to get his palms underneath as the red cherry dropped just in front of him. He suggested it fell short but Starc was peeved nonetheless.
On the very next ball, Rahul survived a run out chance as he dashed off for a quick single after Jaiswal pushed a Lyon delivery towards point. The left-hander however sent Rahul back after he’d covered two-thirds the distance, and had to hare back. Fortunately for him, Steve Smith couldn’t throw the stumps down directly. Jaiswal got to his fifty first – ninth in the format – off 120 deliveries – and Rahul reached his milestone in 124. Jaiswal also hit Starc for a flicked six, and then indulged in some exchange of words with the fast bowler. He hit another six – off Lyon over the long-on fence to break the record for most sixes in Tests in a calendar year (34).
That India went past their first innings total without losing a wicket and that Australia ended both their bowling sessions with the medium-pace of Marnus Labuschagne summed up the sea change in the conditions and the upper hand that the visitors gained.
Brief Scores: [Stumps Day 2]
India 150 & 172/0 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 90*, KL Rahul 62*) lead Australia 104 (Mitchell Starc 26; Jasprit Bumrah 5-30, Harshit Rana 3-48) by 218 runs
India batter Tilak Varma has become the first player – male or female – to hit centuries in three successive innings in T20 cricket. He achieved the feat when he struck 151 off 67 balls in Hyderabad’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25 opener against Meghalaya in Rajkot.
Tilak, 22, headed into the domestic T20 competition on the back of consecutive hundreds in South Africa – 107 not out in Centurion followed by an unbeaten 120 in Johannesburg. With his knock for Hyderabad, he became the first Indian male cricketer to have a 150-plus score in T20s. Kiran Naygire, who now plays for Maharashtra, had scored an unbeaten 162 playing for Nagaland against Arunachal Pradesh in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in 2022.
Tilak batted at No. 3 against Meghalaya and finished with a strike rate of 225.37 after walking out in the first over, hitting 14 fours and 10 sixes before falling on the last ball of the innings. He was severe on medium pacer Dippu Sangma, off whom he scored 50 off 18 balls with six fours and three sixes. He added 122 for the second wicket off just 48 balls and that formed base for Hyderabad’s 248 for 4, their highest score in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. It is also the fifth highest total in the history of the competition.
Tilak was one of five players Mumbai Indians retained ahead of the auction for IPL 2025, having played for them for the past three seasons.
[Cricinfo]
Mikyle Louis and Alick Athanaze both suffered the heartbreak of falling in the nineties on the first day of the Antigua Test against Bangladesh. Otherwise, the West Indies pair did enough to make the opening day of the series theirs. The 140-run fourth wicket stand between the pair revitalised West Indies’ innings, adding pace to the overall scoring. It led to West Indies dominating proceedings for more than two sessions.
Louis came agonizingly close to his maiden Test century, but fell on 97. Despite showing great restraint throughout his 218-ball stay, Louis spent 27 balls in the nineties before falling to Bangladesh stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Athanaze fell to Taijul Islam a few overs later, the second time he got out in the nineties in his short Test career.
The Bangladesh bowlers would be disappointed that they couldn’t hold back the Louis-Athanaze partnership after keeping West Indies’ scoring rate in check in the first 54 overs. Taksin Ahmed took two wickets, while Taijul and Mehidy took one each, average returns overall despite Bangladesh choosing to bowl first at the toss.
After the Louis-Athanaze pair fell to the spinners, Justin Greaves and Joshua Da Silva scored freely against the second new ball towards the end of the day. Play was called off after 84 overs when a drizzle started, while the light was not great either.
Bangladesh’s fast-bowling trio of Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam and Taskin challenged West Indies early in the day, but Louis held his own. Hasan kept beating him outside the offstump. Shoriful tested him around the off-stump with the delivery always threatening to shape in. Taskin used the wobble seam, sometimes bowled the odd yorker, and pressing Louis to fish outside off-stump.
Shoriful, who got more swing from the Sir Curtly Ambrose end than the Andy Roberts end, was playing his first Test since mid-August. He missed the previous five Tests but looked in tune with the red ball. He troubled Kraigg Brathwaite, who tried to dig in despite the runs not flowing from his bat. Louis meanwhile waited for the short ball, which got him two fours with the pull shot.
Taskin then removed Brathwaite, trapping him lbw with a hint of inward movement that beat his bat. Taskin then had Keacy Carty caught at mid-on when he couldn’t keep his wristy whip down, ending up as a tame dismissal. Brathwaite made four runs in 38 balls, while Carty ended on a eight-ball duck.
Louis then found Kavem Hodge a little more forthcoming as they tried to rebuild the innings. The pair struck four boundaries before the lunch break, but then consolidated in the second session.
Louis brought up his fifty when he struck Taskin with a punch down the ground for a boundary. Hodge then slapped Taskin with a square cut, but he wouldn’t last too much longer. Attempting a second run off Mehidy’s bowling, Hodge was run out for 25 after Taijul’s throw from long leg had him well short despite a dive.
Athanaze made efforts to push the run-rate but he was met with Bangladesh’s continued discipline. In the afternoon, it was the spinners Mehidy and Taijul who kept things tight. Athanze skied a couple of balls that fell slightly away from the fielder’s reach. One of them, a top edge towards mid-on could have become a catch had Taskin moved slightly faster from mid-on. Athanaze struck Mehidy with a sweep for four, but couldn’t quite connect with his several reverse sweeps in the second session. Louis, who lifted Taskin for a four over the bowler’s head towards the end of the second session, remained mostly quiet in his approach.
Athanaze took the initiative to raise West Indies’ scoring rate after tea. He started the the final session with two square-cut boundaries, before he finally got a four with a reverse sweep, off Mehidy.
Louis then lofted Mehidy for the first six of the day, which took him into the eighties. Then, Mehidy dropped Louis at slip when he reached 90. Louis picked up Mahmud for his ninth boundary as he edged closer to his maiden century, while Athanaze opened up at the other end too.
He swept Taijul before hitting Taskin for consecutive fours in the 71st over, cut and flicked away. Athanaze then slog-swept Taijul for his first six, and then came another reverse-swept boundary.
Against the run of play, Mehidy removed Louis, charging at him, caught at slip where Shahadat Hossain took a good catch. Three overs later, Taijul had Athanaze caught behind. In the space of four runs, both batters were gone, allowing for a small opening come day two.
Brief scores:
West Indies 250 for 5 in 84 overs (Mikyle Louis 97, Alick Athanaze 90, Kavem Hodge 25; Taskin Ahmed 2-46) vs Bangladesh
[Cricinfo]
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