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by Reemus Fernando Sprinters Nadeesha Ramanayake and Kalinga Kumarage and long jumper Sarangi Silva commenced from where they left exactly a year ago as they produced outstanding feats on day one of the 98th National Athletics Championship at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Saturday. Ramanayake, who missed the South Asian Games in Nepal after being diagnose with dengue fever on her arrival there, recorded her personal best in winning the women’s 200 metres. Aided by a 1.8 tail wind, Ramanayake clocked 24.15 seconds to better her previous personal best recorded in August last year. The 26 year old sprinter from Southern Province was part of the Asian Championship 4×400 metres relay team which established a new national record in Doha in early 2019 and was expected to win medals in Nepal last December before dengue derailed her plans. She is expected to come all guns blazing when her pet event, the 400 metres, is held on the final day. ....
The England squad is scheduled to fly to Sri Lanka on a chartered flight on January 2 (Getty) Sri Lanka Cricket’s medical personnel are concerned about the new strain of Covid-19 that is believed to have emerged in England, but those concerns are unlikely to put England’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, starting January 14, in jeopardy. There may, however, be additional medical protocols for the England team, either before they leave England or after they arrive in Sri Lanka. SLC’s medical staff are expected to have discussions with their counterparts at the ECB on Tuesday afternoon. The focus of those discussions is now likely to be the new strain, and what precautions are being taken to prevent it from being introduced to Sri Lanka via the touring group. ....
by Reemus Fernando More than half a dozen top national athletes will have tough Olympic qualifying marks or achieving better world rankings as their prime targets when they compete for the first time in more than a year at the 98th National Athletics Championship which will be conducted under strict health guidelines at the Sugathadasa Stadium, starting on Saturday. Currently steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake is the highest ranked Sri Lankan athlete. Though she is yet to achieve the tough Olympic qualifying standard of nine minutes and 30 seconds in her pet event, the impressive performances in 2019 including a 9:48.38 secs feat at the World Military Games has positioned her at a creditable 30th place in the World Athletics rankings. With her ticket for Tokyo almost booked, Ratnayake will be striving to achieve a better world ranking. Some 45 athletes will be selected for Olympics women’s 3000metres steeplechase. Currently only 18 athletes (of whom nine are Kenyans) have ac ....