Sri Lankan sports stars excel in 2021
The year 2022 gives more expectations for sportsman and sportswoman with a busy schedule and it is going to be very competitive for athletes. The 22 nd Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8 while 19th Asian Games is scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China from September 10 to 25. In addition 18th world athletic championship which was scheduled to be held last August was postponed due to Global pandemic and it will now be held from July 15 to 22 in Oregon, USA.
Asian Netball championship in September in Singapore, South Asian Junior athletic championship which will to be held in Sri Lanka before Asian youth event in Korea next June followed by world junior championships in Colombia in August also very important for juniors. Sri Lankan athletes received a big boost from their achievements in year 2021 to get ready for big events.
The year 2021 concluded with good memories on the sport field but the Global pandemic always was a big challenge for athletes to reach their ultimate goals. However overall Sri Lankan athletes were able to record good achievements during 2021 year by creating history. Sri Lankan Para athletes stole the highlight in 2021 and compared to able athletes para athletes performance did the country proud. Nine Sri Lankan athletes took part at the Tokyo Olympics but came back empty handed but Paralympic Games held in same venue In Tokyo Sri Lankan Javelin Thrower Dinesh Priyantha created history as he won the Gold medal of F46 Javelin Throw with a throw of 67.79m, which also shattered the World Record of the event, marking the first time ever a Sri Lankan set a world record in a track and field event.
In addition Samitha Dulan won a Bronze medal in Javelin Throw F64 category with a throw of 65.61m. Led by Dinesh Priyantha Sri Lankan Para Athletes team really performed well during Paralympic Games and most of them were able to reach their personal best .
Youth Para Games
The AsIan Youth Para Games 2021 whIch was held in Manama Bahrain Sri Lankan youth para athletes and swimmers came up with fine performances to take 12 medals for the first time Galina Basnayaka was outstanding for the Sri Lanka team when she won three golds and a silver, at thIs meet Galeena, from Lyceum International School, won gold medals in the 50m Free Style (S1-10, 100m Free Style (S6-10) and 400m Free style (S6-10) while she clinched a silver medal in the S6-10 100m Butterfly event.Mohammad Safran of Muslim MV, Kekuagolla also bagged a gold medal in the F42-47 Under-17 Long Jump event. Jason Jayawardana of Gateway College Colombo clinched two silver medals in the F40-41 Discus Throw and F40 Shot Put events. Mohammad Safran also won a second medal, this time a silver, in the F42-47 Under-17 100m event.
In addition Janani Wickramasinghe of Suradutha Balika Vidyalaya, Kuliyapitiya, bagged three bronze medals in the T47 200m, F42-47 Long Jump and T42-47 100m, while Naveed Rasheen of D.S. Senanayaka College clinched a bronze in the S6-10 400m Free Style event.
Weightlifting
Sri Lankan men’s weightlifting team led by Indika Dissanayake won the overall third position at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship concluded in Uzbekistan.
The men’s team members Indika Dissanayake competed in the 73kg category while Chinthana Geethal Vidhanage (81kg), Thilanka Palangasinghe (61kg), Manoj Wijesinghe (67kg) were able to get bronze medals while three women’s medals, gold from Srimali Samarakoon (45kg), silver from Thimali Haputenna,(+87kg), and bronze from Nadishani Rajapaksa (61kg) altogether seven medals werewon by Sri Lankans.
cricket
The most popular game cricket and it’s overall performance was not highly successful but in 2021 especially yougsters of the National team performed better than experienced players.
They are expected to take part in the T20 world cup in Australia this year in October. Wanindu Hasaranga the all rounder who is currently number one T- 20 bowler in the world completed a very successful year. He was able to finish as the highest wicket taker at the T- 20 world cup held in UAE as well as best player with highest wickets at the Abu Dhabi T- 10 tournament. He has been already nominated for ICC best T – 20 player award while fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera also had a successfull year and both Hasaranga and Chameera were able to represent IPL.
The mystery spinner 21 year old Maheesh Theekshana started with a first ball wicket in his ODI career against South Africa while top-order batter Charith Asalanka already showed his potential at white ball cricket at T- 20 world cup and opener Pathum Nissanka made a relatively smooth transition to batting at the top level in all three formats ,left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama who created history on debut test taking match bag 11 wickets at Pallekele against Bangladesh, and off-spinning all rounder Ramesh Mendis and Lasith Embuldeniya also performed well.
Sri Lankan Test cricket caption Dimuth Karunaratne also ended with most successful batter with four centuries in calendar year already has been nominated for ICC test cricketer of the year award and his leadership also highly praised by cricket experts.
Sri Lankan under 19 team led by Dunith Wellalage ended the year on a high note to win runners up at the Asia Cup in UAE .They unfortunately missed the title for the fifth time after reaching final and lost to same opponent India .They will be playing youth world cup in West Indies from January 14 .
Chess
Sri Lankan promising chess player Oshini Gunawardena clinched the Girls’ Under-10 title at the 2021 Online FIDE World Youth Chess Championship, The nine-year-old student of Ferguson High School, Ratnapura defeated Megan Paragua of the US in the final to take the historic world title.This is the first time a Sri Lankan chess player has won a world title.
Athletics
Sri Lankan athletes had good records every year. Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon once again set a New South Asian Record in the men’s 100m with a time of 10.15 seconds. Among several other impressive times, he also clocked wind aided 10.09 seconds (+2.2) which is the fastest time by a South Asian athlete in any condition. Yupun also became first Sri Lankan athlete to compete in a Diamond League competition, when he competed in Italy, as well as the Diamond League finals in Zurich.
Meanwhile, Abeykoon also went on to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games in the 100m, becoming first South Asian male athlete to qualify for the Olympics in the 100m.The Sri Lankan Athletics Team produced a fine performance to win one Gold Medal, four Silver Medals and four Bronze Medals at the 60th Inter-State Athletics Championships, which concluded at Patiala, India. The high jumper Ushan Thivanka also based in USA set up new National record with 2.30m very close to the Olympic standard.
In addition youth sprinter Medhani Jayamanne who finished fourth at world junior athletic championship in Kenya also a good prospect for future. She was able to record best timing 11.85 seconds in 100 m to qualify World junior event and her performance make high expectations .
Volleyball
Sri Lanka’ s National Sport Volleyball also made good progress during the year 2021. The men’s spikers continued their brilliant form throughout the year and ended 2021 on a high note after dominating host Bangladesh 3-0 to be crowned champions of the Central Asian Volleyball Tournament concluded in Bangladesh recently. The women, however, ended their campaign in third place after beating Uzbekistan 3-0.
Table Tennis
Meanwhile Sri Lanka Table Tennis player Muthumali Priyadharshani created history when she entered the pre quarter-finals of the Women’s Singles event at the Asian Table Tennis Championship in Doha, Qatar. She is the first Sri Lankan women’s paddler to achieve this feat at Asian Championship.
Badminton
Sri Lankan Badminton men’s double number one pair Buwaneka Gunathileka and Sachin Dias won the gold at Bangladesh International Badminton challenge while Dias and Kavidi Sirimannage won gold at mixed doubles event. Earlier Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Gunathileka were able to win bronze at Bahrain International Badminton series . Buwaneka Gunathileka also emerged new National Champion.
The year 2021 ended with high note with 19 year old Sri Lankan athlete Shenuki Dishalya winning four gold medals at the Asian Classic Equipped Bench Press and Powerlifting Championships held in Istanbul, Turkey.
