Srilanka

Sri Lanka menrelay team shattered the 4x100 metres relay record by clocking 39.14 seconds to erase the 15-year-old record held by India at the ongoing 13th South Asian Games at Dasarath Stadium yesterday.On a day that Sri Lanka grabbed eight gold medals, three from the track and field events, the Lankan relay team comprising Himasa Eashan, Chanuka Sandeep, Vinoj Suranjaya and Yupun Priyadashana knocked off 0.77 secs from IndiaSAG record of 39.91 secs set in 2004.India finished in second place with a timing of 39.97secs and Pakistan claimed the bronze with a time of 40.50secs.

The Lankan women too were equal to the task taking the gold in the 4x100 metres in a time of 44.89 seconds. The Lankan runners included Lakshika Sugandi, Sarangi Silva, Sadeepa Henderson and Amasha de Silva. India finished second with a time of 45.36secs and Pakistan were third clocking 46.74secs.Sri Lankaother gold medals came in Golf (2), Badminton (2) and swimming (1).India continued to lead the medals tally winning 81 golds with Nepal second with 41 golds and Sri Lanka third with 23 golds.

Athletics

Nilani Ratnayake produced her best and won her second gold in the Women5000m. Ratnayake finished well ahead of the rest of the competitors, with a timing of 16:55.18 second. She won the gold in the 1500m a couple of days ago. Kaushalya Madushani completed the 400m Hurdles event with a timing of 1:00.40 to clinch the silver.In the menand womenshot putt events Samith Fernando took the bronze (15.55m) and Tharika Fernando won the silver with a throw of 14.35m.

Golf

Grace Yatawara won the first gold medal in golf in the individual event. The second gold came in the team event of the womencategory. Sri Lanka also won two bronze medals with Thushani Selvaratnam winning the Individual event and the menthe team event.

Badminton

In a all Sri Lankan final of the womendoubles Thilini Hendehewa and Kavindi Sirimannage beat Achini Nimeshika and Upuli Samanthika Weerasinghe 2-1 to take the gold. Similarly in the mendoubles Dias Vidanalage and Tharindu Dulles beat Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila to win the second gold for Sri Lanka in the event.

Swimming

Mathews Abeysinghe won his fourth medal when he won the men50 metre freestyle event clocking 22.16 seconds. Akalanka Pieiris won the bronze medal in 22.94 seconds and then went onto to grab a silver with a new National Record in the 200m Backstroke with a time of 2:01.55 bettering a 7-year-old record. Kavindra Nugawela (200m Backstroke), Ganga Seneviratne (200m Backstroke), Kiran Jayasinghe (100m Breaststroke) and Ramudi Samarakoon (100m Breaststroke) all won bronze medals in their respective events.Earlier in the day Dilanka Shehan claimed a silver in the 1500m event.

Cricket

Sri Lanka Womenteam defeated hosts Nepal by 41 runs in their last group stage game to book a spot in the final to be played at Pokhara Stadium, Pokhara. Skipper Harshitha Madavi won the toss and elected to bat first and had to settle for a total of 118/7 in 20 overs with Lihini Apsara scoring a valuable 37 in 27 balls, Janadi Anali 35 and Sathjya Sandeepani 22. In reply Nepal was restricted to 77/9 in 20 overs with Sachini Nisansala (3/16) and Sathya Sandeepani (2/5) claiming the wickets. Sri Lanka Women will meet Bangladesh Women in the final for the gold.

Archery

Sajeev de Silva created a National Record scoring 660/720 and is sitting in 3rd place in the Individual Ranking. He will compete in the Individual, Team and Mixed Team events tomorrow.

Weightlifting

Chathuranga Lakmal won the silver medal in 67kg weight class while Chinthana Geethal Vithanage secured the bronze medal in the 81kg weight class

Cycling

Dinesha Dilrukshi won a silver and Udeshi Kumarasinghe and Avishka Madonza a bronze each.

Fencing

Roshan Arachchige won a bronze in sabre and Ali Saeedudden a bronze in epee.

Medals Tally

Gold Silver Bronze Total

India 81 59 25 165

Nepal 41 27 48 116

Sri Lanka 23 42 69 134

Pakistan 19 25 29 73

Bangladesh 4 18 51 73

Maldives 1 0 2 3

Bhutan 0 0 6 6

Prevailing showery condition in Eastern and Uva provinces and in Polonnaruwa district is likely to continue further and the possibility for evening thundershowers in the south-western part of the island is high. Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Batticaloa, Ampara, Badulla, Monaragala, Nuwara-Eliya, Matale and Polonnaruwa districts. Several spells of showers will occur in Northern province and in Anuradhapura district. Showers or thundershowers will occur elsewhere particularly in south-western part, after 1.00 p.m.Heavy showers about 100mm are likely at some places in Sabaragamuwa, Western, Central and Southern provinces. Fairly heavy showers about 75-100mm are likely at some places in Badulla, Monaragala, Batticaloa and Ampara districts.General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Stop me if you&ve heard this one before. A spirited group of New Zealanders have strung together some impressive Test results. They are punching above their weight on the ICC world rankings, and similarly global admiration for their leader. They have a reputation for decency and decorum while playing a tough and skilful game. They are perfectly placed to come to Australia and win for the first time since Richard Hadlee was running amok and The Cure started becoming a mainstream hit.

The sentiments above have been broadly expressed over the past couple of weeks. They could equally have been copy-pasted back four years to the November of 2015, the last time that New Zealand reached the final stages of preparation for an Australian tour.

That team was supposed to give Australia a red-hot run during a dislocated rebuilding phase after five major retirements. Instead, a home team full of new faces used the heavy roller to embed New Zealand into the Gabba pitch. Australia made 389 on the first day, and across two innings lost eight wickets and scored four tons. The visitors lost twenty and scored one.

The reality is that New Zealand teams visiting Australia get stage fright. It has happened enough that it can&t be written off as coincidence. It happened in the World Cup final of 2015, when the irresistible charge of New Zealandhome campaign got diverted into a ditch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

At the far end of that year, that loss would have given the touring Test team plenty of motivation. Recent Test results gave legitimacy. New Zealand had recently thumped Sri Lanka and India at home, toured to win in the Caribbean, and drawn tough away series against Pakistan and England, the latter two markedly better than Australiacontemporaneous results against the same teams. Brendon McCullum was still the leader, retaining his highly upbeat style and the confidence of his team. Kane Williamson, batting at first drop, was at the peak of his powers, and Ross Taylor was about to regain his thanks to a successful eye operation. Trent Boult and Tim Southee had been devastating with swing during the World Cup. And yet … it didn&t work. New Zealand fought back, drawing in Perth on a road, then got unlucky with umpiring to lose the first day-night Test, but the first thumping in Brisbane had set them too far behind.

So the New Zealand of 2019 will want to beware being talked up. On balance they have a better team now, across its breadth. Opening batsman Tom Latham has blossomed in the intervening years, and Henry Nicholls has appeared in the middle order. Neil Wagner is the engine room of the bowling attack, having not played in 2015 but boasting 129 wickets in 28 Tests since. Colin de Grandhomme is nailing the job as the seaming all-rounder; Mitchell Santner hasn&t fully done so as the spin equivalent but has the ability.

Williamson is Williamson: a little more worn and a little less pure, with a higher ratio of runs collected rather than sparkled through the off side, but doubtless one of the best in the world. Taylor remains among the runs even as his years tick upwards, too. BJ Watling has been a quality keeper-batsman for years, but hit another level in the last few weeks against England. Boult remains an operator of the highest quality, while Southee these days is more a chipping-in kind of bowler but still does his job.

So the optimism will be there, and therealready anticipation of a contest from the Australia side. Skills aside, there was a ruthlessness to New Zealand in the past few weeks: making England toil fruitlessly with the ball for 205 overs in the second match after 201 overs in a single innings in the first. Nothing gets Australia supporters on board faster than seeing England suffer.

But skill can only work for teams that hold their nerve, and that is the true challenge for New Zealand. In 2019 they have the luck of avoiding the Gabba, rich with the implacably bland threat of its pitch. Pakistan have already provided the blood-sweat-tears sacrifice to Brisbanehumid gods. For New Zealand it will all come down to something new: a little-played variant of the game at a little-used ground, a day-night match at the new Perth stadium, in a city whose Tests have hitherto only been held under the baking Westralian sun.

Perhaps that will help a little, with unknowns for both teams. Perhaps that will distract the visitors from nerves about the game itself. But on past experience, the likelihood of a New Zealand choke is high. The occasion has previously been too much, and the occasion won&t get any less imposing with the second match starting on Boxing Day. No matter how well New Zealand have been playing, their hardest job now is to avoid the fate of their previous visit to the MCG, a joyful clamour subsiding into a mumble.

Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Prasanna Ranatunga says that the new government's vision is to develop domestic air operations, not just the international operations for the future of business and tourism industry by developing all airports in the country.