Sports

Waiting for the next Olympic hurdler

Published

5 years ago

2021/07/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tokyo Olympics – 8 days to go

by Reemus Fernando

The 400 metres hurdles, a discipline in which the country won its first Olympic medal has lost its popularity from being probably the most popular track discipline in 1948 to be the least-interested athletics event among school children today. The lack of facilities and neglect by officials at Divisional and Zonal level is contributing to making the event less attractive and killing the interest of potential athletes who could one day win medals at the international level. From lack of knowledge of coaches to train the technical event to lack of proper facilities (grounds), there could have been many other factors that had contributed to making the track discipline less appealing but there had been a number of athletes who have beaten the odds to win medals at the junior international level, proving that it is not a case of the dearth of talent.

After Duncan White won the country’s first medal at the 1948 London Olympics it took more than half a century for a Sri Lankan male even to earn an Olympic berth in that discipline. It also took more than five decades since Independence for a Sri Lankan male to win a 400 metres hurdles medal outside the South Asian region. In 2000 Harian Ratnayake won the Asian Athletics Championship silver and became the first Sri Lankan since Duncan White to take part in an Olympic 400 metres hurdles. Despite being the first Sri Lankan to run the distance under 50 seconds and winning silver at the Asian Championships, Ratnayake could not find a place in the semi-finals at the Sydney Olympics. Saudi Arabia’s Hadi Al-Somaily, Asia’s fastest that year went on to win a rare silver.

The 400 metres hurdle has been dominated by athletes from English speaking countries at the Olympics. While the competition among the English speaking countries has made the event faster than it had been a half-century ago, the standard of Sri Lanka’s 400 metres hurdles have remained stagnated.

When White finished second behind Leroy Cochran of the USA at the London Olympics he was just 0.07 seconds behind the winner who established a new Olympic record. The then world record was 50.6 seconds. During the last 73 years the world record has been improved by nearly four seconds. On the first of this month, the Norwegian champion Karsten Warholm broke the world record with a feat of 46.70 seconds (the record is subjected to World Athletics ratification).

The country’s national record of 49.44 seconds held by Ratnayake is more than two decades old now. Ratnayake, trained by S.M.G. Bandara and Asian Games medallist (relay) Asoka Jayasundara, trained by Sunil Gunawardena are the only athletes to have clocked sub 50 seconds in that discipline. The country’s top-level athletes today are much slower than the duo who won at the Asian level in their heyday. At World Level more than 90 athletes clocked sub 50 seconds this year. Of them, 19 are from Asia. Sri Lanka’s fastest 400 metres hurdler this year is not even among the best 50 in Asia.

“Most of the current 400 metres hurdlers are athletes who had taken up the event after joining the Army. The motor abilities of an athlete have to be developed from a young age if he is to become a good hurdler. It takes years of training to become a good hurdler. Not many who take up hurdling at school level persevere,” says Asoka Jayasundara, the Asian Games medalist who trains several hurdlers.

The reason that many athletes do not take up 400 metres hurdles at school level could be attributed to the absence of facilities at the grass-root level. The vast majority of the country’s Divisional and Zonal schools athletics competitions are conducted on 200 metres tracks, which makes it impossible to conduct a proper 400 metres hurdles event. What the majority of organizers of Divisional meets do is to promote the few athletes who have applied for the event to the Zonal level. It is at the Divisional level that a young athlete first sees the event live. At a majority of Zonal meets too athletes competing in the 400 metres hurdles are given turns to run on a single set of hurdles. After finishing their turn, they wait around the timekeepers till all complete their turns to see who has produced the fastest time.

To be continued……….

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Sports

Mendis’ unbeaten 93 anchors Sri Lanka to 271 for six against England

Published

4 hours ago

2026/01/23

Thilina Walpola

Kusal Mendis

Kusal Mendis played the sheet-anchor with a surgeon’s touch as Sri Lanka posted a competitive 271 for six after opting to bat first in the opening ODI against England at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium on Thursday.

The wicketkeeper batter was left stranded on 93, but his knock proved the glue that held Sri Lanka’s innings together after the top order wobbled against England’s spin.

At 124 for four, with leg-spinners Rehan Ahmed and Adil Rashid asking probing questions, Sri Lanka were staring down the barrel. Mendis counterpunched with nimble footwork and soft hands, milking the wrist-spin for singles and punishing anything remotely loose.

Mendis battled cramps midway through his innings but refused to throw in the towel, adding a vital 88 run stand for the fifth wicket with Janith Liyanage off 98 balls to steer the innings back on course.

Liyanage, very consistent in the lower middle order since his debut two years ago, looked set to cash in before Rashid struck on his return, inducing a return catch. His 46 came from 53 deliveries, laced with five fours and two sixes.

Mendis was on 92 heading into the final over, but the strike stayed away from him as Dunith Wellalage hogged the limelight. Sri Lanka were hardly complaining as the last over from Jamie Overton disappeared for 23 runs, Wellalage launching three fours and a six in a blistering cameo of 25 not out from 12 balls.

England leaned heavily on spin, sending down 33 overs through Rashid, Ahmed, Liam Dawson and Jacob Bethell, the second-most overs bowled by their spinners in an ODI, behind the 36 delivered in Sharjah against Pakistan in 1985.

Rashid was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of three for 44 from his ten overs.

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England succumb to spin-bowling choke as Sri Lanka go 1-0 up

Published

11 hours ago

2026/01/22

Priyan

Dunith Wellalage dismissed Jacob Bethell as Sri Lanka closed in [Cricinfo]

Following a difficult Ashes tour, what is left of Bazball ran into an old-fashioned spin-bowling choke in Colombo. There were glimmers of brilliance from England in a chase of 272. But four Sri Lanka spinners, sharing six wickets between them, won through comfortably in the end.

Despite measured 60s from both Joe Root and Ben Duckett, England fell 19 runs short, their run rate having stayed below five an over for the majority of the run-chase. And so England, who had made attacking batting their brand for several years now, delivered the kind of insipid batting performance reminiscent of their woes in South Asia in decades gone by.

The likes of Dunit Wellalage and Jeffrey Vandersay would prosper on a dry Khettarama track, but it was Sri Lanka’s sensible batting that had laid the groundwork for this victory. Kusal Mendis’ 93 not out off 117 was the backbone of the innings, with Janith Liyanage punching out a helpful 46, and Wellalage producing the finishing fillip, hitting 25 not out off 12 balls.

Their 271 for 6 was merely a good total, rather than an imposing one. But then Khettarama is a notoriously difficult venue at which to chase. Though Jamie Overton’s late hitting gave England a sliver of hope, Sri Lanka had the match mostly trussed up at 40 overs, England needing to score at more than 10 an over at that stage, with four wickets in hand.

Overton could still potentially have stolen victory in the final over, off which England needed 20. But he turned down a single first ball, and then holed out trying to clear the infield off the next one.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 271 for 6 in 50 overs (Kusal Mendis 93*, Janith Liyanage 46; Adil Rashid 3-44) beat England 252 in 49.2 overs (Ben Duckett 62, Joe Root 61, Jamie Overton 34; Pramod Madushan 3-39, Dunith Wellalage 2-41, Jeffrey Vandersay 2-39 ) by 19 runs

[Cricinfo]

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U – 19 World Cup: Why a slow chase was better than a fast one for Pakistan against Zimbabwe

Published

11 hours ago

2026/01/22

Priyan

Ahmed Hussain shakes hands with Michael Blignaut after the game in Harare [Cricinfo]

Pakistan beat Zimbabwe in their final group game of the 2026 Under 19World Cup in Harare, but did so in a manner that also endured Zimbabwe’s qualification to the Super Six, taking advantage of the tournament rules to give themselves the best net run rate possible in the next stage of the competition.

Zimbabwe’s qualification on net run rate, along with Pakistan in Group C, came at the expense of Scotland, who looked poised to qualify at the midway point of Pakistan’s chase of the target of 129. However, Pakistan slowed down significantly from the end of the 14th over onwards and ultimately got to the target in 26.2 overs: had they won before 25.2 overs, Scotland, not Zimbabwe, would have qualified for the Super Sixes.

Pakistan gained a significant net run rate advantage with Zimbabwe qualifying ahead of Scotland owing to the format of the Under-19 World Cup. The tournament rules stipulate that points and net run rate are carried forward from the group stage to the Super Sixes, but only from the matches between the sides that qualify from the group. Pakistan progressed with a better net run rate because they had beaten Zimbabwe by a bigger margin than they beat Scotland.

Former international Andy Flower, who was commentating on the game, defended Pakistan’s “cunning tactics” in the way they paced their run chase against Zimbabwe.

“I thought it was a justifiable tactic on their part,” Flower told ESPNcricinfo. “When they go through to the Super Sixes, they will take their net run rate, which will include the Zimbabwe game but doesn’t include the Scotland game. That means their net run rate is better than if Scotland went through.

“They needed to first establish they weren’t going to lose the game, and then they just slowed down to make sure Zimbabwe got through. Some people may question the ethics of that, but I personally don’t.”

Pakistan had beaten Scotland with 6.5 overs to spare. However, they were poised to get a much larger win against Zimbabwe, one that would not have benefitted them in the Super Six stage if Zimbabwe were eliminated from the group. With Pakistan taking the game to the 27th over, they took the advantage of carrying their net run rate forward for a win achieved with 23.4 overs remaining, rather than one with 6.5 overs to spare. Moreover, they also deprived England, who topped group C, of the net run rate boost they got by beating Scotland by 252 runs in the group stage.

If Pakistan’s attempt to pace their chase in that manner was deemed as deliberate, that could conceivably constitute a breach of the ICC laws. Law 2.11 states that “any attempt to manipulate an international match for inappropriate strategic or tactical reasons” is a Level 2 Code of Conduct offence. However, proving that the slowdown was deliberate could be extremely difficult.

By the end of the 14th over against Zimbabwe, Pakistan had sped along to 84 in pursuit of 129, needing just 45 in 11.2 overs. However, from that point onwards, Sameer Minhas and Ahmed Hussain slowed down, their attacking intent visibly disappearing. They scored only 36 in the next 12 overs, with 89 balls going by without a boundary.

Flower, who was on commentary during the latter stages of Pakistan’s chase, suggested they were aware of the net run rate calculations. “The last ten overs or so, Pakistan have played a cunning game,” he said. “The way Pakistan are going about business, they are probably aware of the fact that if they qualify for the super six along with Zimbabwe, they carry through a better net run rate as opposed to with Scotland.

Pakistan’s attacking intent returned as soon as Zimbabwe’s place in the Super Sixes was secured. With nine required to win, Minhas, the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 74, clobbered Michael Blignaut for two successive sixes over long-on to finish off the game.

As qualification slipped out of Scotland’s grasp, Flower said on air that it “must be hard for Scotland to be watching this”.

However, he defended Pakistan’s strategy of giving themselves the biggest advantage in the next round. “I think it was a fair tactic and didn’t bring the game into disrepute,” he told ESPNcricinfo.

During the 1999 ODI World Cup, Steve Waugh had attempted a similar strategy during Australia’s chase against West Indies at Old Trafford, to gain the advantage of carrying forward points into the Super Six round.

[Cricinfo]