Briefly

Bridge winners

Ashantha de Mel and T. Shanmugalingam won the open pairs bridge event organised by the Kurunegala Lawn Tennis Club, in Kurunegala.

Brian Rodrigo and Rasika Karunatilleka finished as runners-up followed by Nihal Silva, S. W. Molligoda, Anton Selvanayagam, Dr. Dilangan Soysa, D. P. Senaweera and Tony Savundranayagam tied for the 5th place with Mrs. Mallika Wijekoon, Mrs. Cera Fernando.

W.C.S. Abeysekera and M. Goonaratne emerged as the best Kurunegala pair. Foureen pairs participated.

Wesley take U-13 Rugby Cup

Wesley College scored a runaway 33 points to nil win over St. Anthony's Katugastota to win the Milo Under-13 All-Island Rugby Cup in the competition conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Association concluded at the CR&FC grounds, Longden Place.

Nalanda beat Prince of Wales by 5 points to nil to win the Bowl championships while S. Thomas' Prep won the Plate championships defeating Trinity 22-14.

In the Cup quarter-finals, Wesley bt Lumbini MV by 42 points to nil. St. Sylvester's bt Zahira 42-nil, Vidyartha bt Royal 16-10, St. Anthony's Katugastota bt D.S. Senanayake by 26 points to 14.

In the semi-finals, Wesley bt St. Sylvester's 14-5 and St. Anthony's Katugastota bt Vidyartha by 12 points to 7.

In the plate quarter-finals, Dharmaraja bt Isipatana 'B' 12-nil, S. Thomas' Prep bt Sri Rahula 12-nil, Trinity bt Isipatana 'A' 24-19 and Richmond bt St. Joseph's 19-7.

S. Thomas' Prep bt Dharmaraja by 7 points to nil and Trinity beat Richmond by 26 points to 14 to win their Plate semi-final matches.

Chess in Kalutara

By H.P Perera

The All Island Inter-School chess competition was held at Kalutara Maha Vidyalaya organised by the Kalutara Vidyalaya Chess Organisation.

St. Sylvester's College, Kandy emerged champions and the runners-up were Dharmaraja Vidyalaya, Kandy and Isipathana Maha Vidyalaya, Colombo placed third.

St. Joseph's Balika Vidyalaya Kegalle emeged champions in the girls' section. Twenty four chess teams participated.

Denusha emerged Grade 5 champion

Denusha Weerapperuma emerged champion in the singles event for Grade 5 girls with Nishara Jayakody as runner-up at the Mirinda Mini Tennis championships conducted by the Sri Lanka Tennis Association at its courts at Green Path.

Shanil Abeysekera won the girls' Grade 3 title with Geena Wickremaratne as runner-up.

Bandarawela Thomians still unbeaten in Basketball

By V.T. Rajah- Our Badulla sports correspondent

St. Thomas' College Bandarawela maintained their unbeaten record in their inter-school Basketball tournament, when they beat S. Thomas' College Gurutalawa by 65-55, played at the latter's grounds recently.

Although beaten, Gurutalawa led in the first half by 31-27 with Brendra Premachandra scoring most of the points. During the second period Bandarawela boys did creditably well to beat the opponents in their home grounds.

Capt. Mahinda Rajapakse and Senadeera officiated.

STC Bandarawela also beat Badulla Central College by 30 - 16 after leading 14-4 at the short whistle played on Tuesday at the Badulla Esplanade.

This tournament is being organised by the Badulla District Basketball Association. Messrs. Bandula Janatha and L.B. Amaranath officiated. On Wednesday (16.11.2000) too STC Bandarawela beat Dharmadutha College in their inter-school Basketball encounter by 28- 17 after leading by a narrow 10-9.

Dharamdutha College playing for the first time did creditably well to hold the experienced STC boys in the first half.

Referees: Messrs. Anura de Silva and Rahal Manjula.

Nearly 45 participated at the Basketball Referees Seminar 2000 organised by the Badulla District Basketball Association conducted at Dharamadutha College hall and at the Vincent Dias Stadium in Badulla recently.

Sri Lanka Baksetball Federation officials Messrs. R. Ranasinghe, Ajith Kumara, Channa Perera and Buddhika Goonathilaka conducted the seminar which was very well organised by the Secretary Denzil Darling.

Uva Provincial Sports Director Sirisena Ovitigala was chief guest and distributed the Certificates to the participants along with Nihal Bopearachchie.

The buckled wheels of cycling in Sri Lanka

Kandy looking, Trinco going. That in a nutshell is exactly what cycle racing in this country is all about. Otherwise the catastrophe that overtook our cyclists in Malaysia would never have happened. A total and utter diasaster where our cyclists were concerned. Long before our cyclists left for Malaysia, they - or rather the officials - had cooked their goose.

Firstly our cyclists were not given enough time to prepare for this tour. Three to six months in a pool, a coaching camp and trials were not held. They were given only 5 days to prepare for the meet. And this was a meet in which world-beaters were participating. And the riders who were in the best form were not selected. The selections were obviously done on a 'I'll scratch your back, you scratch my back' basis. The riders were supposed to have been selected on a point ratio basis. But even this was not done in a proper manner. Riders are given rankings and points by the Cycling Federation of Sri Lanka. But when it comes to selection rankings and points are of no earthly use. M.A.J. Kumara ranked 3rd with 59 points and R.P.U.M. Ranasinghe ranked 4th with 55 points were not selected. Instead, W.J.Jagath Kumara ranked 7th with 48 points and P. Yasaratne ranked 11th with 39 points were selected. At present the rankings and points allocated to the cyclists by the Federation is as follows.(1) G.G.S.K. Getamurutha 83 points. (2) H.L. Krishantha 66 points.(3) M.A.J. Sumith Kumara 59 points. ( 4) R.M.U.D. Ranasinghe 55 points. (5). Anil Priyantha Silva 51 points. (6). U.D. Sanath Ahangama 50 points. (7) W.Jagath Kumara 48 points. In rankings 8th and 9th B.J.Sumanasekara and Dinesh Chanaka Silva tie with 47 points each. At No. 11 S.K. Warnashantha with 40 points and he is followed by P.Yasaratne with 39 points.

Cyclists require a minimum average of 47 kilometres per hour for a 150 kilometre distance. But our cyclists speed is 38 kilometres. Our cyclists have reached their maximum capabilities and cannot go any further to even think of participating in international events. This sad and pathetic state is due to lack of proper coaching and training, wrong food, physical unfitness and the lack of strength and stamina to last a long race and compete against riders who are world class. There was also a comment by the broadcasting media on this tour about the sub-standard and quality of the machines used by our riders for this meet. That may have been true where three of the cycles were concerned. But certainly not where the cycle that was used by H.L. Krishantha used. This cycle was lent to him by Mr. Sam Keil, the coach of Paragon Pedallers and Australian representative. This is a tailor-made bike that Mr. Keil brought with him when he came down from Australia. It is fitted with modern equipment and its cost is US $,5,000.. The frame of the cycle is a Reynold 731-06 with a Cat-eye Computer that measures speed, cayton, average distance and time. And despite having such a first class bike, Krishantha himself admitted that he could not keep up with the speed of the rest of the overseas riders. This just goes to confirm and crystalise that no matter what bike they ride, it boils down to nothing if the rider himself is not of the required standard. It also spells that reports of the Malaysian Cycle Race are from people who are clueless on cycling and are not even prepared to accept plain and simple logic. A clear example of stupidity being the twin brother of arrogance. There are only a handful of officials who make decisions, whether right or wrong. While the rest scratch their elbows when they suffer from Haemorrhoids where cycling is concerned.

When it comes to the making decisions, although the Cycling Federation of Sri Lanka consists of many clubs, they have no say whatsover when it comes to decision making. More often than not, clubs are not even informed or invited for meetings of importance.

Commissionaires who are appointed to judge the winning positions in a cycle race, fail in their duties and get the positions incorrect on every occasion. At the finals of a cycle race, these commissionaires get their wires crossed even if there is a minimum of 6 competitors. Such is their ignorance and incompetency. Today the use of a video camera is ideal for this purpose but the officials of the federation do not want to use modern equipment and move with the times. Instead they depend on their own warped judgment and a handful of others who are as incompetent or even worse than themselves. In fact when a club, The Sri Lanka German Friendship cycling club brought down sophisticated equipment it was not permitted to be used.

Also this points system and rankings are abused by our riders. Once they get the required points and rankings, they keep off competing in races. By that when they are selected for a meet of importance they are completely stiff and out of form, so that when they go for an international meet, like the one that was just held in Malaysia, they cut pathetic figures in the eyes of the racing world.

What it boils down to is that - save for one official of the Federation Mr. Senaka Ranasinghe the Chief Executive Officer - the others have no desire to improve the standard of cycling in this country.

Sri Lanka runners-up at World Carrom Championship in New Delhi

By Leonard Ratnayake

Without much notice to the sports loving public who are glued to only a few sports, Sri Lanka's national carrom team returned home with the runners-up trophy at the Third World Carrom Championship.

The Championship was held at Talkatora indoor stadium, New Delhi from November 6 to 10. Thirteen countries represented their carrom maestros for the championship, but it was again the sports' dominant India who came out with flying colours. UK, USA, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Maldives, Malaysia, Bangladesh, South Korea, Russia, India and Sri Lanka were the countries participated in the championships.

Sri Lanka's performances a the Championship was commendable with some improving and promising performance by the youngsters in the sports. Sri Lanka's women's team mostly comprised teenagers, while only captain Pradeepa Herath was an experienced hand. In the men's 22-year-old D. N. Fernando has led the way with qualities of a champion. He led the country for a rare feat of obtaining eight slams out of which, half was by him. M. N. M. Sadurdeen had scored two slams while captain Ajith Chandrasoma and P Naotunna had one each. Slam is a feat, where the individual himself finishes the game in one attempt without conceding a chance to his opponent. It had been interesting to note that all Sri Lankan slams have been white-slams, which are also called "break to finish". This has been the first time in the history of world carrom championship that a Sri Lankan team has obtained eight slams, also D. N. Fernando is the person to have obtained the feat four times.

India scored the highest number of slams in the championship which has come to 11, while Bangladesh with three and Maldives one have accounted the 23 slams at the championship.

It had been noteworthy to mark the performances by the Bangladeshi's who had entered the championship for the first time. A strong Bangladeshi men's team have ousted the Maldivians from the third place.

Chef-de-mission H. D. Hemachandra said that it was significant to notice during the tour that the Lankan players were in close competition with the Indian competitors having adapted few of their tactics.

"Now our players have taken the game positively, instead of playing their earlier style of defensive method, they have adapted an attacking method, which had proved productive" added Hemachandra.

Sri Lanka's promising start in the sport had given the administrators of the game to speed up the development work and with more facilities to create an enthusiasm among the youth to get involved in the sport.

The game of Carrom, one of the most popular indoor games, is said to be played in India for more than a century. Estimates have shown that over 15 million people play the game in India alone. Indian players are the world champions in all categories of this game. They have not only won all three world championship but also all the international tournament held so far.

Results: Overall championship 1. India 2. Sri Lanka 3. Maldives Men's Championship(16 ranks) 1-5 India 6. D.N. Fernando 7. M.N.M. Sadurdeen 8. Ajith Chandrasoma 9. Bangladesh 10. T. Naotunna Women's championship(08 ranks) 1-5 India 6. Nadeeshani Atapattu 7. Pradeepa Herath 8. Maldives

Towards football professional reality in Sri Lanka

By Gamini Perera

In last week's issue of the Sunday Times (19/11) we posed the question: 'Are we ready for professionalism?

The launch of the Premier League - 2000, which will proceed upto February, 2001 and the Super League tournament due to commence in mid-2001, the final launch and the step into the world of professionalism, would not be a simple and logical one, as many would think.

The results and performances of teams at recent AFC tournaments have made a clear distinction between those countries still plodding along under the guise of amateur football and those which have entered on the professional trail. Japan, Korea Republic, China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan are the countries with teams which clearly stand out from the pack.

The AFC has been encouraging all members to look for an alternative to amateur football. This is because it is beyond doubt that only professional football can lift the quality and the standard of the game to match teams from other countries.

Imperative

It is imperative, therefore, that those who have not introduced professional football, should consider doing as as a matter of urgency.

The AFT is also of the view that a good national club championship is vital in order to provide the opportunity for players to play competitive football, thereby improving their skills and sense of professionalism. Clubs are the nucleus of football development. The organised clubs are able to recruit talented players and groom them to a high level of performance.

Professionalising the administration, the management and organisation of all competitions, as a step towards attaining excellence and to give a better deal to players and coaches - are instrumental in guiding Sri Lanka through to the desired goal of professionalism.

The other vital factors the FFSL should seriously consider before introducing the Professional League stand out as follows: The harmonisation of both the local and the international match calendar must go ahead as quickly as possible, in the interest of the national team and the clubs. Clubs must be compensated for the training of young players, whenever they change clubs. A minimum age should be introduced for transfers of young players.

Refereeing

It is desirable to establish professional refereeing. Former players should be encouraged to become referees. Players should be obliged to be fully conversant with the laws of the game.

The question of professional refereeing is an urgent issue that needs immediate attention. A two-stop plan, which will create both a group of top-level referees to be under contract to the FFSL, and a group of full-time professional referees' instructors to help improve standards, is of paramount importance.

Football business

Going professional, is to change the present organisation from a football club to a football business. There must be many favourable conditions prevalent in the country that opts to go professional in football.

It should be a football country where many people love the game and the high potential of talented players.

Our organisational structure, our youth development, the size of our fan base, are some of the prerequisites that will make Sri Lanka a model for the Professional League.

It is not our intention to discourage, but to encourage the FFSL to set a perfect launch-pad for the great leap into the world of professional football in Sri Lanka.

Lankans have edge over Springboks

The Lankans who convincingly out classed their opponents at Sharjah re cently, would very soon embark on a voyage to South Africa, where they are scheduled to play three Tests, six one-dayers and other warm-up encounters. It is left to be seen whether the high-riding Lankans could repeat the performance in Sharjah, but the Springboks cannot be under-rated, being one of the best cricket playing nations today. Playing on home soil the Proteas would be at an advantage, despite their recent performances not being up to expectation. Cricket fans can be assured of bright exciting and entertaining cricket. However the final outcome cannot be predicted and could swing either way in this uncertain game.

Going on the present form and trends the Lankans appear to have an edge in the series as a whole. They could be considered favourites in the limited over games, while the Tests would be evenly contested for supremacy. Unlike the Lankans, South African cricketers are presently going through a period of transition which started when their dynamic skipper Cronje fell from grace being involved in match-fixing episodes and having to quit the cricket arena. In addition one or two senior players have decided to either play in only one-dayers or Test matches. But this is part and parcel of the game and practically all cricket playing nations have gone through similar situations at some stage or another. The Lankans too have also had their fair share and now more or less a settled side with a host of promising youngsters who have replaced some of the senior players. Although these newcomers have displayed their skills, talents and promise they have yet a long way to go, before they could be considered worthy replacements.

The Lankans squad under the astute leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya who have hitherto registered many a triumph in Tests and limited over games, with their morale high are brimming with confidence.

They cannot afford to rest on their laurels and take things easy for the Proteas who are tough and great fighters playing hard and intelligent cricket. The tracks in South Africa are fast with a lot of bounce which would favour the pacies.

The Lankan forte is their batting with great depth. Jayasuriya and Atapattu are solid openers, who are dependable and technically correct batsmen who could keep the scoreboard moving. To follow would be Jayawardene, Arnold, Sangakkara, Kaluwitharana and Dilshan. Most of them are in-form top order batsmen who are all capable of making big scores. All these batsmen could tear any bowling apart on a good batting strip. Jayawardene and Arnold are two players with tremendous potential and a delight to watch when in full cry. Jaywawardena should curb his tendency in flashing his bat at deliveries outside the off stump, which had resulted in his downfall on many occasions. Arnold on the other hand is calm, cool, patient and collected at all times, never ruffled by situations.

He is ideally suited to fit into the number three slot, particularly in the Tests. This youngster is in the making of a fine all-rounder, being a useful change bowler and a safe field. The Lankan camp would certainly miss the services of Aravinda de Silva, who is still one of the best batsmen in the game today. His position in the batting order is not easy to fill. At the moment I cannot see anyone in particular who is really suited for that position. However the player aspiring has much to learn before reaching the standard of the master craftsman.

The bowling would be spearheaded by Muttiah Muralitharan the hero of Sharjah. Although the strips in South Africa do not favour much spin, this man could turn the ball on any surface much to the discomfort of any batsmen. To support Murali in the spin department there is Upul Chandana, Jayasuriya and Arnold. The fast bowlers should comprise Vaas, Zoysa, Wickremasinghe and Weeraratne and the selectors would opt for another considering the fast wickets in South Africa. It should be ensured that Zoysa maintains his fitness throughout the tour, for on many occasions he has been plagued with an injury that resulted in his having to pull out of the side, particularly at crucial moments.

His presence in the team is of utmost importance to partner Vaas. Kaluwitharana is the ideal man to be behind the stumps with his vast experience and he should come off with the bat to retain his place in the team.

The Lankan fielding has now reached great heights and this was amply demonstrated at Sharjah, they should continue in this fashion and should not relax in this department.

Everything said and done, a hard fought series is on the cards. The Lankans would go all out to add to their victories, while the South Africans would make every endeavour to halt this run of success and at the same time redeem their lost prestige. Whatever is the end result a friendly atmosphere should prevail at all times in this gentlemen's game of cricket.

-Francis Vethanayagam

A man with many talents

He is a popular lyricist, who with his lyrics is able to mesmerise fans. But at another time, he is a humanist, who spends all his leisure hours with patients in a hospital. By profession, he is a Medical Technologist but known to us as Bulathsinhala Ananda Liyanage, and he will launch soon into the sphere of Karate, as an Instructor.

During an arduous period of 7 years, he has been trained in Kung Fu, Jet Condo, Ninjitsu, Ticondo & Karate, under the able leadership of Anura B.Mapa, Sangaratna Fernando and W.Yang (Korean). On many an occasion, Ananda, has shown his colours at various demonstrations held throughout the island. Though Karate is polarized from his professional fields of lyric writing and the medical profession, he insists that this martial art is a godsend to him.

Though he never had dreams of becoming a Karateka, Ananda says that this art, helps him grow not only physically but mentally as well. Lamenting that many of our men and women suffer with various diseases, due to their neglect of exercise, which they have relegated to the backyard, Ananda says that such arts can help many to get over many unwanted health risks.

He opines that if most of our youngsters are encouraged to take to martial arts like Karate, many would find life easy and interesting, as it is lack of exercise that makes youth a drab lot. He is grateful to all those who helped him to come to the present position, more specially the Director of the Medicine Institute, where he now works, as a Health Inspector.

tee talk with Tita Nathanielsz

Alain Gyi champ

Alain Gyi struck gold and picked up the medal after a round which can be described as colourless. Gross 77 was not good enough for Gyi who just recently has been revelling in much better scores.

The North East Monsoon meet spread over 2 weekends is being sponsored by Premier Pacific International Ltd. the reputed Luxury Apartment Developers. Niki Shiek their spritely Public Relations Manager is combining superbly with Lionel Almeida the Manager of the Royal Colombo Golf Club to ensure that the competitions work to plan and the award ceremony comes off blemish free.

Wasantha again

The course was playing good and true and the weather could not be better. Wasantha de Silva the star performer in recent months had his handicap chopped to 18 after his excellent performance at the Victoria Golf Club Digana in the Sri Lankan Airlines Golf Classic. Off the shaved handicap he came good again on the 1st day of the tournament with a smashing nett 66 - the best for the day. Coming close behind him was another good performer Noorden Sethiwala who cracked an excellent nett 68. Ranil Pathirana got reckless a couple of times and got pushed to 3rd position.

Success and failure

Lalin Samarawickrema stretched his strokes judiciously through the round and appeared quite pleased with his nett 69. Joy Perera was jubilant with a similar score and Ray Jubitz happily rushed a chilled beer after a well calculated rewarding round of gross 82 nett 69. On Sunday much was expected from these three but they crashed unceremoniously to scores they would want to forget hastily.

The fun side of the competition came off the club heads of 27 centurions who in blistering style punished the course, strayed out of ponds and contributed much towards the take home kitty of the pond boys, Ajanta Mylvaganam reached the peak before lunch. V. T. Sunderalingam strayed and stayed there untill the century was collected and Ranjan Joseph obliged by overshadowing Upali de Silva's error studded 102.

2nd Day's play

Elmo de Silva planned out his game impressively and returned to the clubhouse with a wide grin and the announcement that he had broken par. Nett 68 was a good score and Elmo had every right to grin. Young Amrith de Soysa continues to sparkle and the little fellow appeared to be pleased with his nett 69. Wasantha de Silva had his handicap clipped by 2 strokes after his performance on Saturday and despite the sizeable slice he came good comfortably with nett 69. Anel de Silva and Koichi Cho had rewarding rounds of nett 70 each and they were followed by Mohan Alles, Chaminda Galagedera, Mark Silva and Saman Premasiri who were quite impressive.

Bad Day

Sunday the 2nd day of play was miserable and totally unkind to all participants. The weather gods were sadistic and smiled all the way watching a harvest of players howling in distress. Sidat Wettimuny a stylish opening bat was shooting through the midwicket area and occasionally got a shot or two over extra cover. He steadied at one time but a trifle too late as a century had already been registered on his card. Others who got into positive distress were Norman Gunewardena, Sarath Piyaratne, Nimal Ranasinghe and Dr. S. A. K. Abeywardena. Packets of confetti were produced by S Weeraratne, Jerome Rajendram, Dayananda Hewawasam, K Imasaka, Ranjan Joseph, Shelton Jayasinghe and Omar Mansoor.

Hewa the cynosure of all eyes

A military Taekwondo team represented Sri Lanka at the 12th World Military Taekwondo championships held in Seoul, South Korea, between October 21 - 29, 2000.

One hundred and Eighty-three sportsmen and women from 22 countries viz. Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Lesotho, Netherlands, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Sri Lanka, Syria, UAE, USA, and Vietnam participated in this tournament.

The Tournament was very competitive and the Sri Lankan team performed well, though they conceded defeat to much tougher and experienced opponents. They had the benefit of only two year's of training initiated in the Army with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Sri Lanka.

Lance Corporal Hewawitharana became the cynosure of all eyes as he beat his Chinese opponent convincingly in the Bantamweight category.

Colombo International School Under15 boys' cager champs

Colombo International School led by Sandesh Sharma emerged under 15 boys' cager in the Inter-National Schools championships played at its school Courts.

In the finals Colombo International School beat Asian International School by 66 points to 34.

Sandesh Sharma of CIS was picked as the best offensive player, Amrith de Zoysa also of CIS the most valuable player and Andrew Anton of AIS the beat defensive player. The schools that participated are: Colombo International School, Asian International School, British School, Wycherley International School, Belvoir College International, Alethea International School, Lyceum International School and Overseas School.

The chief guest was D.C. Sanders the Principal of the Colombo International School.

Badulla newsletter

Asela helps Cosmo CC

By V.T. Rajah

A century and 3 wickets for 16 by Asela Amaradewa enabled Cosmo Cricket Club Bandarawela to beat Sara Cricket Club by 111 runs in their Badulla District Division III limited over cricket encounter played at the Badulla Esplanade on Saturday.

Cosmo C.C. batting first scored 299 runs in 46 overs. Asela's 124 included 2 sixes and 16 fours scored in 110 balls.

Sara Sports Club were rattled out for a mere 88 runs in 28.3 overs when Jayasiri Liyanage captured 5 wickets for only 05 runs.

Chief Scores:

The match played on Sunday at the same venue between Old Uvites S.C. and Carabians S.C. ended in no decision due to heavy rain.

Cosmo C.C. 299 (Asela Amaradeva 124, Anurada Warusawitharne 16, Jeewantha Ajith 21, M. Naushard 33, F. Reginold 34 n.o. Navinraj 2 for 35, A. Mohan 3 for 67, S. Tissa 2 for 38 and Nirmal Kanth 2 for 12)

Sara S.C. 88 ( Menuka Nandan 25, J.Janaka 15 Asela Amaradewa 3 for 16 and Jayasiri Liyanage 5 for 05)

Badulla Maroons SC heads Minor Districts U-23 tournament

Badulla Maroons Sports club is presently heading the Minor Districts Under 23 tournament when they beat Matara Rahula Sports Club played on Saturday at the Badulla Esplanade.

Matara Rahula S.C. batting first scored 145 runs in 37.3 overs with K.M. Prasad top scoring with 40 runs. A. Weerasinghe captured 4 wickets for 35 runs. In reply Badulla Maroons scored 180 runs in 49.3 overs with T.de. Silva and M.Abeykoon scoring half-centuries.

Chief Scores:

Matara Rahula S.C. 145 (S. Siribandara 19, K.M. Prasad 40. K.W. Buddhika 13, Y. Ravinath 26, A. Weerasinghe 4 for 35 and, P. Pathirana 3 for 36)

Badulla Maroons S.C. 180 (T.de Silva 54, M. Abeykoon 51, I. Weerasinghe 13, Y.Ravinath 3 for 35 and N.C. Comasaru 6 for 43)

Badulla Maroons Sports Club beat Bandarawela United sports club by 4 wickets in their Badulla District Division III limited over curtain-raiser cricket encounter played on Friday at the Badulla Esplanade.

Batting first Bandarawela United S.C. scored 174 runs in 41 overs losing all their wickets. A fine half-century by W.Sameera enabled Badulla Maroons to score the required runs in 26.3 overs.

Chief Scores:

Bandarawela United S.C. 174 ( C. Carlton 12, S. Rohitha 18, Premitha 14, M.H. Hyder 22, Daluwatta, 24, S. Weerasinghe 3 for 26, P.Paliharathna 2 for 24 and C.Dissanayeke 2 for 36)

Badulla Maroons S.C. 178 for 6 (W.Sameera 50, Haeshajeewa 15, A. Bandara 15, Ishara 20 n.o. and S.Nimesh 3 for 23)

CT&FC Athletic meet on December 2, 3

The 39th Senior and 28th Junior Championship of the Ceylonese Track and Field Club (CT&FC) will be worked off on December 2, 3 2000 at the Colombo University Grounds, commencing at 8.00 a.m.

The championships will be worked off in six age groups, senior Men and Women, Under-19, 17, 15, 13 and 11 for Boys and Girls. Entries close on November 22 and entry forms could be obtained from Club's Secretary, Capt. Shemal Fernando, 41/2, Pantalcon Mawatha, Kandana, 11320. (Telephone: 433905 or 236899).

Closing date of the entries will be November 22, 2000.

Events:

Men - 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10000m, 110m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault, Shot Putt, Discus Throw, Javelin Throw.

Boys' Under-19: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 110m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault, Discus Throw, Shot Putt, Javelin Throw.

Boys' Under-17: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 110m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault, Discus Throw, Shot Putt, Javelin Throw.

Boys' Under-15: 100m, 200m, 400m, Long Jump, High Jump.

Boys' Under-13: 100m, 200m, Long Jump, High Jump.

Boys' Under-11: 75m, 100m, Long Jump.

Women - 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 100m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Discus Throw, Javelin Throw, Triple Jump.

Girls' Under-19: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 100m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Discus Throw, Javelin Throw.

Girls' Under-17: 100m, 200m, 400m, 100m Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Putt, Discus Throw, Javelin Throw.

Girls' Under-15: 100m, 200m, 400m, Long Jump, High Jump.

Girls' Under-13: 100m, 200m, Long Jump, High Jump. Girls Under-11: 75m, 100m, Long Jump.

HNB on top

Hatton National Bank 'Blues' and 'Yellows' finished as champions and runners-up in the inaugural Mercantile Athletic Federation Netball Championships sponsored by Safe Gas Systems (Pvt) Limited worked off at the Sports Ministry Grounds at Reid Avenue.

Arpico Sports Club finished in third place.

In the finals HNB Blues beat HNB Yellow by 25 goals to 19 and Arpico Sports Club beat Commercial Bank by 12 goals to 6 to win the third place.

Gayathri Lankatilleka of the champion team was crowned the Netball Queen with Ceylinco Sports Club winning the smartest team award and Arpico Sports Club winning the most promising team award.

Sashikala Samarasinghe of HNB 'Blue' was picked the best shooter, Hazleen Hassim of HNB 'Blue' won the best defence award while Harshani Wijayalatha of HNB 'Yellow' was awarded the trophy for the best centre court player.

THREE NEW MEET RECORDS

By S.M.D.Sirisena

Three new meet records were established on the opening day of the Mercantile athletic championships conducted by the Mercantile athleitic Ferderation held at the Sports ministry ground, Race Course.

In the men's novices section, Namal Priyashantha of Playmouth Industries set up the first record.in the 100 metres. Priyashantha finished with the time of 10.98 seconds. Previous record was 11,8 sec, set by A.Weerasekaram of Seylan bank in 1997.

The second record was set by T.T.E Jayasekara of Seylan bank He threw the putt a distance of 10.98 metres. The previous record was 9.73 metres set by Lal Perera of A.L.C.S in 1986.

In the women novice section Sadamali Jayawardana of Power World Ltd. set up the new record in the long Jump event. She lept 4,.55 metres The previous record was 4.48 meters set by Damayanthi of Tri Starin 1997.

Sri Lanka former 800 national Champion Dhammika Menike of HNB has won the two events, and is most likely to be best athletic in the women's section. she won the Shot putt and 800 metres .

Result.s :

Men's : 100 metres Umayanga Sanjeewa (Tri Star), time 11,0 sec, Putt shot T.T.Alailima (Power World Ltd) Distance 15.49 meters.

Men's novices: 800 meters R.L.S.Priyankara (Tri Star) Time 2;14;9 sec, Shot Putt; ST.T.E.Jayasekara (Playmouth Industries) Distance 10.98 metres (New record), 100 metres hurdle Indika Kularatna (Sierra Construction Ltd. Triple Jump: Shantha Kumara (H.N.B) Distance: 13.43 metres .

Women's novices: Triple Jump; Nadeeka Walpola (Arpico) Distance 9.66 metres, Long Jump H.S.Jayasekara (Power world Ltd) Distance 4.55 meters (new Record), Shut Putt: Indika Palambegoda (Slimline), 100 metres Sujani Nisrosha(Slim Line Ltd) ,800 metres Chandrika Silva (Seylan Bank), 100 m. Hurdle N. G.Jayasekara (Power World).

Women : Long Junp : G.W.Mallika (AASL), Shot Putt Dhammika Menike (HNB), 800 metre-sDammika Menike

Men (Over 40) Triple Jump: Dickson Silva( SL Air Lines), 100 metres: P.A.D.W.Sunil (Korea Ceylon F.Co Ltd), 400 meters: P.M.Ranasingha (Slim Lines), 100 MetresHurdle: Gamini Weerasingha (SL Air Lines), Putt Shot : A.S.Wijewickrama (Power World), (over 50) Shot Putt: N.C.G.E.Mendis( Ceylinco Group). 100 Metres: N.Obeysiri (A A S L ), 800 metres: D.Appuhamy (Airport Garden Hotel Ltd.

Women (Over 35) 100 metres: Ranjitha Ratnapala (Enok Travel), Putt Shot : P.Sikuradipathy (Airport AA), (Over 50) 100 Metres: Hema Jayaratna (Korea Ceylon Ltd.)

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