Sports Snippets

Imesh Chathuranga - wins best swimmer's award at Age Group Championships

Swimming: Imesh Chathuranga of D.S. Senanayake College did well to win three events at the National Age Group Swimming and Diving Championships held at the Sugathadasa Stadium pool. He swam in the under 10 age group and was picked as the champion swimmer in his age group.

Besides winning three events, Imesh Chathuranga established a record in the 50 metres Back Stroke event, 'clocking' 39.71 seconds.

Chirantha Ariyawardena came second with 40.15 seconds.

In his other two victories, Chathuranga won 50 metres Butterfly Stroke in 38.10 seconds and his third victory came in the 50 metres Free Style event which he won in 34.35 seconds.

Lanka Plate Snooker 1st round

SNOOKER: The following are the results of the 'Lanka Plate' Snooker Championship held at the Garden Club Snooker Parlour recently. This is the preliminary round matches.

Table No. 1 - Matches: Sivasankar (MSC) beat A.C.D. Soyza (YMBA) 59-49 and 80-7, M.F. Hassan (MSC) beat N. Karunakaran (KGC) 59-15 & 50-26, W.D. Nimalsiri received walk over from A. Gunathilake (MRSC), D. Wijekoon (YMMBA) beat S. Dehapriya (PSC) 70-41 and 77-5, M.N. Sudesh (MSC) beat M. Ramachandran (MSC) 29-65 & 74-22 & 63-50, Faiesz Samad (KGC) beat A.M. Anfus (MBS) 88-13 & 84-3.

Table No. 2 - Matches: M. N. Nazar (MLSC) beat D. B. Ekanayake (PSC) 87-32 and 63-23, M.A. Deen (MLSC) beat M. Fauzer (YMMA) 89-14 and 74-51, T.M. Amidon (YMMA) beat R. Neil (YMBA) 50-40 and 84-31, S. Perera (YMMA) beat Madagamage (PSC) 85-41 and 106-26, U.M.S. Bandara (KGC) beat T.M. Wijesinghe (PSC) 64-47 and 52-40.

Wesley-Antonian rugby match postponed

RUGBY: The scheduled inter school rugger match between Wesley and St. Anthony's College Kandy did not come off at the Royal College Sports Complex yesterday. But it will be now played today at the same venue at 4.30 p.m.

Yesterday Wesley and St. Anthony's game was postponed as Royal were playing a warm-up game prior to the Bradby Shield first leg to be played in Kandy on June 9.

Flintoff will regain all rounder status, says Lloyd

CRICKET: LONDON, June 1, 2007 Former England coach David Lloyd belives Andrew Flintoff will overcome his latest ankle injury setback and return as a fully-fledged all-rounder later this summer. The 29-year-old Lancastrian's ability to perform with bat and ball at the highest level has been compromised by the latest in a series of ankle injuries, which has ruled him out of the current Test series against West Indies.

Flintoff is due to have an exploratory operation on his left ankle this weekend to determine the extent of the damage, although some critics already claim he may never again be able to function as a top-class all-rounder.

Royal paddlers win two titles

TABLE TENNIS: - Royal College paddlers performed well by emerging 'A' division champions in both the under-18 and under-12 tournaments at the Inter-School Table Tennis Championships conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Table Tennis Association concluded on Friday at S. Thomas' College Sports Complex, Mount Lavinia.

Royal swept the board by winning the major team events defeating much fancied teams such as Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda, Dharmaraja College, Sri Devananda College Ambalangoda, St. Anthony's Katugastota, Vidyartha and Maliyadeva.

Under - 18 and under-12 teams of Royal remained unbeaten in the championships To crown it all Royal under-18 and under-12 teams playing in the 'B' division finished runner-up.

Vidyartha rout Sylvestrians

RUGBY: Vidyartha College, Kandy swamped their traditional rivals St. Sylvester's College by 34 points (4 goals, 2 penalties) to nil in their Singer Trophy Rugby tournament match played at Nittawela yesterday. At half time Vidyartha led 10-0. This match turned out to be a one sided affair as Vidyartha after dominating play in the first half cut loose after the turn around to add 24 more points to their first half lead of 10-0.

Match Winner for Vidyartha was their centre Chanaka Chandimal who scored a brilliant try and also goalled four and also fixed across two penalties for difficult angles to bring his personal tally in the match to 19 points. The other try scorers for Vidyartha were fly half Tharaka Dissanayake (1 try) and flanker Nirindu Migara Wijeratne (2). For the Sylvestrian flanker Parakrama Ratnayake scored of a five metre scrum which was goalled by full back Asanka Perera.

South African Johann Taylor refereed.

Shot in-the-arm for sports

Sports tourneys: Three sports competitions have been worked off by the Kandy District Sports Foundation - Under 17 cricket tournament for Kandy Schools, Inter-Schools and Open hockey tournament and Open tennis tournament.

In addition, there will also be a first aid course for selected sports personnel in the Sports Ministry and Education Ministry of the Central Province.

The cricket, hockey and tennis tournaments are sponsored by the Sports Development Foundation of Kandy.