HOORAY for Cooray our London Marathon star

We leave the field that is cricket and move on to the track and field to offer our congratulations to our man of the moment, ANURADHA INDRAJITH COORAY, for finishing 14th at the London Marathon and bringing great honour and credit to the country.

It was Cooray's grit and determination that helped and inspired him to this glory. He would certainly have been a worried starter at the Marathon, considering that only a few days ago, that the Boston Marathon ended in mayhem.

At the Boston Marathon three spectators lost their lives and scores were injured or maimed owing to a dastardly act by terrorist brothers who activated a bomb at the finish.

Cooray would have been worried

Accepted that security was tight at the London Marathon with the organisers not taking any chances and spreading a tight security blanket to prevent a Boston repetition, but even so when Cooray faced the starter, he would have been a worried runner.

But he must be admired for putting that fear behind him and joining 35,000 other marathon runners and putting 34,986 runners behind him and finishing a grand 14th.

Never in the history of the London Marathon has a Sri Lankan athlete acquired himself and the Country with such a terrific effort. Every Sri Lankan could be proud of this feat. His timing was 2.17.53 seconds while the winner Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede finished with a time of 2.06.04 seconds.

Cooray participated in the London Marathon in 2012 and finished 23rd with a better timing of 2.17.50 seconds. This time round he took 3 more seconds to finish the distance coming in 14th.

National record holder

Cooray hails from Divulapitiya Central College where he began his running career as a 5000-metre man. On joining the Army he took to long distance running. He is the national record holder in the men's marathon and 10,000 metres.

Cooray is based in Buckinghamshire, England running for the Vale of Aylesbury Athletic Club and is training under the watchful and expert eyes of Nick Taylor and is concentrating on hitting the top soon. With this superb effort, Cooray has left his mark in London and in so doing brought great honour and pride to the country that has had promising long distance runners in the country in the past such as the Khan brothers - ALM and ASM, Linus Diaz, K.A. Karunaratne and R.J.K. Karunananda whose names come to mind.

Other celebrated Lankan athletes

Other celebrated athletes who have brought great honour and pride to the country and whose names come to mind are: Duncan White, Nagalingam Ethiriverasingham, T.D.S.A. Dissanayake, S.L.B. Rosa, Sunil Gunewardene, Damayanthi Dharsha, K.G. Badra, Susanthika Jayasinghe and Dhammika Menike.

The Amateur Athletic Association of Sri Lanka, must not be napping but wake up to the wonderful effort of Cooray at the London Marathon and do what they can to inspire and encourage the youngster to go more places.

But Cooray is not without problems. He has a family to look after and works eight hours a day to keep the home fires burning. He has made a just request of 250 pounds per month from the Sports Ministry for his training and is confident that it will be granted considering his great showing at the London Marathon.

Gayle strikes Chinnaswamy Stadium and India - sub headA gale in the form of Christopher Gayle struck the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and India as the 'man mountain' struck with his bat tsunami like to destroy the Pune Warriors in an Indian Premier League match on Wednesday night.

A day before Gayle struck, the honour of scoring the first century in this 2013 tournament fell to Australian champion opening batman Shane Watson who made 101 in 61 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes. But Gayle put that knock into insignificance.

Jamaican and former West Indian captain Chris Gayle is only one of the three batsmen in world cricket who is capable of launching a brutal attack and destroying any bowling attack in world cricket. The other two being his countryman Kieron Pollard and Australian Shane Watson.

Gayle has previously played whirlwind knocks. But nothing to beat the one he played on Wednesday night. Brutality is associated only with war. Never did the cricket world imagine that an innings of sheer brutality could be enacted on a cricket field.

Shook and stunned cricket world

Before going on to further describe the devastation Gayle caused, here is how he shook and stunned the cricket world. 100 in 30 balls - 175 not out in 66 balls with 17 sixes and 13 fours.

In this mayhem he helped himself to the highest score by an individual in this style of game. He helped his team Royal Challengers to a record score of 263 for 5, which efforts will not be equalled or surpassed, certainly not in this century.

It was thunder and lightning striking the Chinnaswamy Stadium as Gayle sprayed 17 huge sixes some of them landing out of the ground sending spectators searching for the ball and 13 fours that would have had the blades of grass at the stadium standing in obeisance.

With Gayle striking with a vengeance, the bowlers and fielders, the spectators on the ground and those watching the massacre from the box would certainly have been watching man's inhumanity to man.

Rhino power and rare timing

With wrists of steel, rhino power and rare timing, when Gayle connects the best thing fielders could do is to let the ball screech to the boundary and not try to stop it lest being maimed and going out of the game and losing their livelihood.Gayle has had his problems, especially with his Cricket Board and at one time looked as though his career was on the line. But thanks to the cricketing gods, he surmounted all that and rolls on providing entertainment most times when he has the willow in his hand.

We watched in awe on the Box the Gayle assault. No bowler could bowl line or length, to the master who was at play. He middled every hit and when the ball left his bat it just zoomed or sped to the fence.

This is what Twenty20 and 50 over cricket is all about and which see spectators filling grounds and sends turnstiles screeching for more oil. It is everyone's hope and wish that Gayle will continue to remain in the game and excite and thrill spectators.

Watson first to a century

The honour of smashing the first three figure score in the 2013 Indian Premier League fell to Australian opening dazzler Shane Watson when he made 101 for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings.

Watson is another big hitter like Gayle who can terrorise any bowling attack. Powerfully built and tagged 'Tarzan', he strikes with immense power when on the go and is unstoppable.

But his century, the first in the tournament was of little

significance because his side although making 185 for 5 lost toChennai Super Kings who made 186 for 5 with a blazing 88 from 51deliveries from another Australian, the recently retired MichaelHussey. Watson's knock was tagged SHANE-SENSATIONAL.

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