Shihara Sandamini Silva and Isuru Kaushalya Abeywardena were adjudged the best athlete of the Kalutara District Inter Division Championship held at Bandaragama.

National Sports Festival- District Championships

by Reemus Fernando

The 13-year-old long jumper Shihara Sandamini Silva and Asian Youth medallist Isuru Kaushalya Abeywardena won the best athlete titles of the Kalutara District Inter Division Athletics Championship of the National Sports Festival concluded at Bandaragama on Sunday.

The two young athletes who have already excelled at All Island Schools championships won the coveted titles against a host of senior athletes.

The Good Shepherd Convent, Panadura athlete came almost close to matching her personal best with a feat of 5.20 metres in the women’s long jump. The athlete trained by veteran coach Prasanna Perera, has a personal best of 5.24 metres achieved at the same ground last year.

Sandamini, hogged the limelight at schools national level when she established the Under-12 long jump record in 2018. Yesterday, instead of competing in the Under-16 age category, Sandamini opted for the Open category and competing against the seniors produced the best jump which was also adjudged the best performance of the meet.

Incidentally, the Under-16 age category event was won by Harini Adithya also from Good Shepherd Convent.

Isuru Kaushalya who won the medley relay silver medal at the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in 2019 lived up to his reputation winning both the 200 metres and the 400 metres. Kaushalya, who was nursing an injury towards the latter part of 2019, was in sublime form producing a stunning 22.00 seconds performance to win the 200 metres on Saturday. The athlete trained by D.R. Munasinghe backed up his feat with another notable 50.5 seconds performance to win the 400 metres yesterday.

“I am looking forward to reach 47.6 seconds before the end of this year,” Kaushalya told The Island after the victory.

Kalushalya edged out senior athlete Dinusha Deshan to the second place to win the 400 metres. Pasindu Malshan who was placed third in the 400 metres, compensated for the defeat winning the 100 metres. The St. Peter’s College sprinter clocked 11.4 seconds to win on a wet track.

The men’s 800 metres was won by Mithila Viraj who beat training partner Pasindu Munasinghe to the second place. Later the duo teamed up with Isuru Nethsara and Isuru Lakshan to win the open men’s 4×400 metres relay for the Beruwala Division.

In the women’s 400 metres Githmi Sanjana won gold for Beruwala, while Ishin Praveesha from Kalutara Division won the 100 metres dash. K.M. Buddhika won the 200 metres sprint.

Kalutara Division were the winners of the District Championship.

by Rex Clementine

Most players will not pick South Africa as their favourite destination but most cricket reporters would pick it. There are many reasons. A vast country, South Africa has much to offer. While most love the wildlife and weather, others prefer the variety of beers and meat. The visa process is the easiest while it literally takes you less than five minutes to complete the accreditation process. Like Sri Lankans, the people in South Africa are the most friendly. Then their cricketing centers are right up there with other world class facilities be it Kingsmead in Durban, Newlands in Cape Town or Wanderers in Johannesburg.

But cricket in South Africa is facing hard times at present. Some observers have even pointed out that the country is facing the threat of suspension from the International Cricket Council due to government interference. If the unthinkable happens, it will be a black day for one of the greatest sporting nations.

Three decades ago, when South Africa were readmitted to the ICC following the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, which ended the apartheid regime, there was new found hope.

The cricketing world witnessed Alan Donald for the first time during the 1992 World Cup. He was so quick and earned the nickname ‘White Lightning’

A year later, when South Africa made their maiden visit to Sri Lanka, the players had discussed at length how they were going to tackle Donald. But they were blown away by someone called Brett Schultz, whose left arm thunderbolts were unplayable.

As long as Mandela was in power, he ensured fair play. Mandela was a generous man. He was perhaps too honest. The South African constitution allowed him two terms. But he decided to retire after serving just one term. His successors were not so generous.

The racial quota introduced in South Africa has had a devastating effect in sports. Of the 11 South Africans in a cricket team, there can be only five whites. That is for international cricket and the chances of whites playing domestic cricket is even more less. Hence, the whites have moved in massive numbers to greener pastures in England, Australia and New Zealand. As a result, we have seen the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Marnus Labuschagne and Grant Elliott playing the sport for other countries.

The worst is that white South Africans giving up their international status and moving to the UK to play First Class cricket taking a KOLPAK deal. A KOLPAK deal briefly means that countries that have trade agreements with European Union (EU) also have same rights as member countries of EU.

Duanne Olivier debuted for South Africa when Sri Lanka toured that country. He bowled some hostile spells and Sri Lankans were in full awe given the pace he generated. But he opted for a KOLPAK deal giving up his chances of playing for South Africa. That was in 2019. In 2018, Morne Morkel turned KOLPAK and in 2017 Kyle Abbott had done the same. These are some of the finest fast bowlers produced by South Africa.

South African authorities don’t have to force it on the system to have a certain number of non white players. Equal opportunities for everyone means fine talents will emerge. Take the case of Hashim Amla, one of the finest batsman to play the game. Or go and ask Kumar Sangakkara who among current fast bowlers he hates facing. You can be assured his answer will be Kagiso Rabada. The quota system has only created unwanted issues. A non-white player effectively carries the stigma of representing his country not on merit. Not just players, even those none whites who were in administration had splendid careers. Haroon Lorgat was initially Chairman of Selectors and then went onto become CEO of the board and headed the ICC. There was also Lerato Malekutu, the long standing Media Manager of the team who did a splendid job.

Cricket South Africa recently has been unstable. In the last three years, the board has had four CEOs. They have also lost several sponsors in the last few years and could be heading for a financial crisis.

A vibrant South Africa is very much needed for the sport to thrive. With the Big Three again flexing their muscle, it is South Africa that can lead other smaller nations like Sri Lanka and Pakistan to keep the sport strong.

The Department of Sports Development commenced a workshop to upgrade the knowledge of netball coaches at the Torrington Sports facility on Wednesday. The second in a series of such workshops the three-day programme attracted some 40 coaches from various parts of the country.

The coaches attached to the Department of Sports Development, Provincial Councils and the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka were participating in the workshop which was inclusive of both theory and practical sessions.

“For several years there had been no workshops like this to upgrade and share knowledge. We found this an ideal time to conduct such a workshop as the Covid 19 pandemic has halted most of the training programmes around the country,” said Department of Sports Development official .Jayantha Siyamudali who conducted a session on modern warming up methods in the morning yesterday.

National Track and Field coach Y.K. Kularatne conducted a lecture on training principles which was followed by a session on netball techniques and skills development conducted by Chandrani Pathiraja.

Director of Sports of the Moratuwa University, C. Rathnamudali was scheduled to speak on training planning today.

The Department of Sports Development conducted a similar workshop on conditioning for coaches of all sports recently.

The workshop which concludes today was coordinated by project officer Thamara Liyanage.

The attendees included prominent coaches who are working with the junior national teams and former national coaches. Asian Junior Cup team coach Kumari Gamage, coaches in the current development pool namely Prasadi Nalika and Lakmini Samarasingheand former national coach Deepthi Alwis took part in the programme with fellow coaches from elsewhere. (RF)