sport in brief
 

Invitation netball tourney at Sugathadasa Stadium April 10 to 23

By Leslie FERNANDO

NETBALL: The Interim Committee of Netball Federation of Sri Lanka is making arrangement to conduct an International Invitation Netball Championships with the participation of six nations from April 10 to 23 at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

Ajantha Wijesekera, the President of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka said that they have already taken steps to invite teams from Malaysia, Papu New Guinea, Botswana, Scotland and India. Sri Lanka will be the sixth team to play.

It will be a good exposure for Sri Lanka netball team who are billed to participate at the Asian Netball Championships to be held in June in Malaysia.

Except for Botswana and India, the other three teams are well ahead of Sri Lanka in the netball world rankings.

Papua New Guinea is the most formidable side and they are in 11th position of world rankings, Scotland in 16th place, Botswana is 18th India is number 22 and Sri Lanka placed 17th.

The last occasion Sri Lanka played in an international tournament was in 2006 in Singapore. Sri Lanka there fifth in the league basis tournament, only a win over Singapore. The Lankan team was beaten by Botswana, Papua New Guinea and Samoa national teams.

The netball chief Ajantha Wijesekera said that Sri Lanka national team will be named at end of March.

Vaughan targets Ashes return

CRICKET: LONDON, Jan 17, 2009 - Former England captain Michael Vaughan has refused to write off his international career and believes he will have a role to play in the eagerly-anticipated 2009 Ashes.

The 34-year-old, who was left out of the 16-man Test squad for the tour of the West Indies later this month, led England to their famous win over the Australians in 2005. But while his teammates head for the Caribbean, he will be resuming county duty at Yorkshire.

"I am 34 and I feel as though I've got a few more years left in me," Vaughan told the BBC. "You have to have that excitement and buzz, and really want to go out there and perform, and I certainly have those feelings." Andrew Strauss will lead England in the West Indies following the turbulent departure of Kevin Pietersen and the sacking of coach Peter Moores.

"I still think he (Pietersen) could do a really good job," said Vaughan. "As England captain he was very forward thinking, very committed, obviously ruffled a few feathers. "But I don't mind that - Nasser Hussain did that as captain and did a fantastic job. Graeme Smith has done that for South Africa.

"Everyone has got to be themselves, and Kevin Pietersen tried to do it his way and he said last week in his (newspaper) column that he feels his captaincy days aren't finished yet."

AFP
 

St. Sylvester's Road Race today

By Upananda Jayasundera - Kandy Sports Special Corr.

ROAD RACE: The All Island 9th Annual Road Race organised by St. Sylvester's Old Boys Union, Kandy will be held today (Sunday) commencing at 7.30 a.m. in front of the school premises.

The following events will be worked off: Sri Lanka Inter-Club Race for men and women; Inter-Schools Race for boys.

In addition to this Kandy Municipal Inter-Community Centres and School Inter-House Races will be held simultaneously with the other races.

Sri Lankan pressmen will miss Ray Illangakoon

AN APPRECIATION: The news of the untimely death of Ray Illangakoon last Monday (Jan. 12), - the media manager of Sri Lanka cricket, came as a shock to all pressmen.

With his superb command of the english language, Ray, was like a gentle giant helping the mediamen with his always friendly and ever endearing attitude. Whether day or night or even outside office hours, Ray was always accessible, irrespective who it was.

These salient points surely must make the members of the "fourth estate" dabbling in cricket raise their hats to the man. He was without a peer in his trade in recent times when it came to interacting with the media.

Ray who assumed duties as media manager of Sri Lanka Cricket in 2003, functioned in the post for a duration of two years during which time he had built a rapport with reporters of the electronic and print media that will be hard to surpass.

He was unassuming and a down to earth person who never craved for publicity, but considered his duty to liaise with all media institutions to uplift the image of the sport which he held dear until the end.

Even after leaving SLC, he continued to be in touch with scribes, despite a busy working scheduled at his firm Masscom (Pvt) Ltd., an event organising company.

Ray's sudden demise, no doubt leaves the media, the porer, with the likes of him hard to find.

Goodbye dear Ray! JK

Closing Regatta now on Jan. 24

By Leslie FERNANDO

ROWING: The postponed closing Regatta will be the first rowing event to be held for 2009 and it will be on Saturday January 24 on the Beira Waters, commencing at 2 p.m.

The event is conducted by the Colombo Rowing Club. According to Devaka Seneviratne the captain of Boats, Colombo Rowing Club, all top oarsmen will participate in the regatta and interesting and exciting races will be on the cards.

The events to be rowed are: Sculls, Double Sculls, Pairs, Fours, Masters Fours Veterans.

The trophies on offer are Harry Creasy Cup, Colvin Sirimanne Trophy, Cyraine Cup, Bois Cup and Veterans Trophy. Devaka said that Amateur Rowing Association of EAST (ARAE) Regatta and the prestigious Madras - Colombo Regatta has been included in the 2009 rowing calendar.

Both ARAE Regatta and the Madras - Colombo Regatta will be hosted and conducted by Indian Rowing Federation and Madras Boat Club respectively.

Both these important and popular regattas will be held in May and June, before the 11th South Asian Games to be staged in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

De Villiers and Miller minutes apart

By Jeannette NEUMANN

DAKAR RALLY: BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Jan. 17, 2009 - Volkswagen teammates Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller cruised through the penultimate stage together on Friday to guarantee they finish with the top two placings in the Dakar Rally.

De Villiers and Miller, the overall leaders, finished only 15 seconds apart in a fast 13th stage that wound across hills between La Rioja and Cordoba, part of the world rally championship. Torrential rain made some of the initial route impassable, and organizers slashed it by more than half from 545 kilometers (339 miles) to 220 (137).

Rattled by the crash and exit of rally and team leader Carlos Sainz on Thursday, de Villiers and Miller pulled over on team orders soon after the stage start to allow teammate Dieter Depping of Germany to join them in a convoy.

"I think we can call this a team stage," said de Villiers. "The most important (point) is to reach the finish, particularly after losing a car yesterday. It's important for Volkswagen to finish the Dakar in first and second places. We don't want to take any chances anymore."

South Africa's de Villiers led the American Miller by 2 minutes, 20 seconds overall. NASCAR star Robby Gordon of the United States remained third, almost 90 minutes behind.

De Villiers or Miller will win his first Dakar on Saturday when the rally ends where it began, in Buenos Aires.