Battle of the ‘Second Strings’
A depleted, decimated and a demoralised Sri Lanka will start this afternoon against a still-strong ‘second string’ India in the tour-opening first One Day International (ODI), to be played behind closed-doors at 3.00pm in an all-day-night tour at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Host come into the contest in horrendous form with on-and-off the field fiascoes. [...]
Tokyo’s bid for a safe and secure Olympics
In what has become representative of the times, empty stadiums will host events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which starts in Japan this week, despite the emergence of positive cases amongst those travelling for the games and widespread public opposition. The Tokyo games’ organisers have repeatedly attempted to allay concerns from Japanese residents, who fear [...]
Ball receiving, servicing and blocking need to click – SL volleyball coach Jayasekara
Sri Lanka’s Volleyball head coach Channa Jayasekara has set his sights on improving his team’s ball receiving, servicing and blocking after the qualifying win and booking their berth for this year’s Senior Asian Volleyball Championship to be held in Japan, in mid-September. “We didn’t get to practice during May-June, this year. We, however, started practices [...]
SLC’s bursting ‘bio bubbles’ and Weerakkody’s fate
Sri Lanka Cricket has sent workers in breach of strict Covid 19 protocols in place for the supplementary squad of players training at the R Premadasa Stadium, resulting in cricketer Sandun Weerakkody contracting the virus. Weerakkody, who was called up for training by national selectors in one of the two backup squads, tested positive on [...]
No show-cause letters given to cricketers yet
It’s being 16-days since Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka were flown home after allegedly breaching the team’s bio-secure bubble during Sri Lanka’s recent tour to England, but no show-cause letters have been issued. The trio are facing disciplinary inquiry following the highly-publicised unauthorised late-night-out fiasco, which showed them roaming the city without adhering [...]
Disappointed yet determined
Swimmer Dimuth Akalanka Peiris, 21, is one of those unlucky blokes to be cold-shouldered by authorities of Sri Lanka’s sports echelon, despite having credentials and showing promise of a competitive career. Currently coached by Shehan Dias, Peiris is in the list of ‘blacks’ or perhaps an un-ceremonial victim of pity politics in Sri Lankan sports. [...]
The Reward and the Racket that is Badminton!
Badminton is an elegant sport, played essentially by the broad middle class with perhaps an upwardly mobile segment that want to look a little better than the common or garden Perera’s! That’s why you see badminton courts in all the major watering holes in Colombo where middle aged public and private sector executives gather to [...]
The Sunday Times Sports Desk spoke to some of the experts in the badminton scene
Clarence Homer- Former SLB Secretary We have enough and more talent but their progress has been blocked. Badminton is an individual sport where the players should have the freedom to train anywhere. But Sri Lanka Badminton has a new Code of Ethics, where players can’t train anywhere else. This is absurd. They are blocking the [...]
Preethi Perera reelected NACKSL president
Rohan Prithiviraj Perera was reelected as president of National Association of Canoeing and Kayaking Sri Lanka (NACKSL) at its Special General Meeting held on June 30. The Executive Committee was elected without a contest and by way of unanimous decisions as the new committee entailed the re-elections of Perera as president, Rear Admiral (Rtd) Ajit [...]
Sri Lanka to field 9 athletes for Tokyo Paralympics 2020
The Sri Lanka will pin hopes in winning at least two medals at the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics, as National Paralympic Committee (NPC) officially released the names of nine athletes who will represent Sri Lanka at the Games, which will be held from August 24 to September 5. Javelin thrower Dinesh Priyantha Herath has been named [...]
National shuttlers boosted by Li Ning
As many as 100 badminton players invited to the National Pool lined up last week at the Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) courts to receive a full complement of Li Ning gear, which comprises of high end rackets, shoes and training plus competition dress ensemble, as they await the call for national training no sooner COVID-19 [...]
Youngsters shine as Sanjeewa and Chenaya grab titles
Youngsters showed their class at the Sri Lanka National Online Novices Chess Championship 2021 despite a senior grabbing the main title of the meet. Among those who earned the cynosure were Piyumi Amarathunga, who earned the silver medal of the Western 2 Open category, and Chenaya Ekaratne, who won the gold medal in Western 1 [...]
Education Ministry scraps Under-12 school sport competitions
The Ministry of Education has taken a decision to take off the schools and junior Under-12 age category from competitive level. This decision was confirmed with the amended Schools Sports Development Circular of 34/2016 was enacted after being sanctioned by the Secretary to the Ministry of Education. Accordingly school sports events beginning from the Under-14 [...]
National Youth Sports Festival 2020 cancelled
The much awaited 32nd National Youth Sports Festival (NYSF) of 2020 has been cancelled for the previous year, as the organisers, the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) intends to draw plans to organise the edition for 2021. The first phase of the 32nd NYSF was held through district stages earlier last year, but with the [...]
Karate Kid Dulanjana, aiming high
Fourteen-year-old Y.D. Dulanjana Bandara is a promising Karateka, studying at Vijaya National College Matale. By now he has achieved several victories in martial art at district, provincial and national level. Dulanjana won a gold medal for his first place in the Under-13 Kumite event at the Central Province Karate-do Championship in 2019 held at the [...]