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Tharushi stole the limelight in 2023

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Sri Lankan promising athlete Tharushi Karunaratne stole the limelight in 2023 when she bagged 800m gold medal with a new record at Asian Games held in China .In fact 19 year old Tharushi coached by Susantha Fernando had a memorable year and she also excelled at Asian Junior Athletic championship with a bronze medal to record the best performance by Sri Lankan athlete in year 2023.

In addition Sri Lanka women’s cricket captain Chamari Athapaththu also finished a very successful year created many records in her cricket career .She finished the year after winning best player of the Womens Big Bash League cricket tournament in Australia.

Badminton Star Buwaneka Goonatilleka and Ranithma Liyanage also came up with good performance while Viren Nettasinghe reached world rank 76

Meanwhile Wanindu Hasaranga was picked for the ICC T20 Men’s Team of the year 2022 and Inoka Ranaweera was picked for the T20 Women’s team of the year.

Following are highlights of 2023

January Sri Lanka U-23 win the third place at the Under-23 Central Asian Volleyball Championship held in Bangladesh. : Buwaneka Goonathileka and 16-year-old Ranithma Liyanage won the most prestigious Singles titles in the Open Men’s and Women’s categories respectively, in the 70th National and 38th Junior National Badminton Championships.

Wanindu Hasaranga was picked for the ICC T20 Men’s Team of the year 2022 and Inoka Ranaweera was picked for the T20 Women’s team of the year..

February Chamari Athapaththu (68) and Inoka Ranaweera contributed to beat South Africa by 3 runs to give Sri Lanka a famous win in the ICC T20 World Cup at the Wanderers in Cape Town. They followed it up with a win against Bangladesh, but two massive defeats against Australia and New Zealand meant they crashed out of the tournament.

Hatton National Bank (HNB) won the 2023 Dialog National Netball Championship defeating Air Force 29-44 in the final. Kandy Sports Club became the unbeaten champions for the eighth consecutive year, lifting their 23rd title in the Nippon Paint Rugby League 2022/23.

March Dinesh Deshapriya won the Gold in the ITTF Para Open Table Tennis (TT) (Class 9) Championship in Giza, Egypt. Royal College registered an emphatic 180-run win over S. Thomas’ College in the 144th Battle of the Blues encounter played for the . D.S. Senanayake Shield at the SSC Grounds in Colombo.

Sprinter Aruna Darshana clocked an impressive 20.64secs, surpassing Vinoj Suranjaya’s 20.68secs as the second fastest time in Sri Lanka, also becoming the second fastest Sri Lankan athlete in the 200m, behind national record-holder Yupun Abeykoon.

Sri Lanka failed to secure direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 after succumbing to a defeat against New Zealand in the third ODI at Hamilton.

April Team Dambulla won the National Super League 50-Over Tournament 2023 beating

Team Jaffna by 5 wickets in the final of the tournament. St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and Trinity College, Kandy emerged Joint Champions of the U-19 Inter-Schools Division 1 Tier ‘A’ 2-Day Tournament 2022/23.

Isipathana College, who missed out on winning the Sevens title in 2022, came out all guns blazing to beat St. Peter’s College in the Cup finals. The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs officially confirmed the cancellation of the gazette notification dated April 1, 2022. Considering this, Asia Rugby made the decision to reinstate Sri Lanka Rugby as a full member.

World School Chess Championships 2023: Thehas Rithmitha Kiringoda was crowned the U-9 Open Champion in the World School Chess Championships 2023 held in Rhodes, Greece.

Thushen Silva from Maris Stella College won the silver medal in pole vault in the fifth Asian Youth Athletics Championship 2023 in Uzbekistan. He cleared 4.70m in the boys’ pole vault event.

Prabath Jayasuriya completed 50 wickets in seven Tests to claim the record for reaching the mark in fewer matches than any other spinner.

May Sri Lanka women clinched a comfortable 44-run win over the visiting Bangladesh side in the third and final T20I to secure the series. Shammi Silva was elected as the President of Sri Lanka Cricket for the 2023-2025 term.

June Sri Lankan athletes Tharushi Karunaratne and Jayeshi Uttara bagged Silver and Bronze medals in the Girls’ 400m event in the 20th Asian Junior Athletics Championship in South Korea. Karunaratne also won the Women’s 800m event and the Mixed 4x400m event.

Sri Lanka secured their maiden ODI series win over Afghanistan 2-1 in Hambantota.

Shuttlers Buwaneka Gunathileka and Viren Nettasinghe put up commendable performances against top opponents to clinch the Bronze medal in the Men’s Doubles in the LI-NING Maldives International Challenge 2023 in Malé.

Dilshan Madushanka became the most expensive buy at the inaugural Lanka Premier League player auction, Jaffna Kings bought him for $ 92,000.

Sri Lanka defeated Hong Kong 46-32 to clinch third place in the Asian Youth Netball Championship 2023 in South Korea. A century from Chamari Athapaththu paved the way for Sri Lanka to register a comfortable 9-wicket win over New Zealand,, in the first ODI between the teams played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.

July Chamari Athapaththu produced her fastest century in ODI cricket to take Sri Lanka women to their first-ever bilateral series win against New Zealand as they won the third and final ODI by 8 wickets. She also became the first player from her country to top the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings.

Sri Lanka won the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2023 beating the Netherlands by 128 runs in the final. Samitha Dulan clinched a Bronze medal at the World Para Athletics Championship 2023 in Paris, France. He cleared a distance of 64.06metres in the Men’s Javelin Throw – F46 event to claim third place.

400m runner Nadeesha Ramanayake clinched the gold medal at the 25th Asian Athletics Championship with a timing of 52.61 seconds. It was a personal best and the third best time ever recorded by a Sri Lankan athlete in the event. Pakistan wrapped up a clinical demolition job of Sri Lanka at the SSC, Colombo, beating them by a margin of an innings and 222 runs in the second Test, clean sweeping the series 2-0 and handing the hosts their biggest defeat.

August Royal College bounced back from a slender 3-point deficit to win the 2nd leg of the 77th Bradby Shield encounter 27 (5T 1C)-17 (2T 2C 1P) at Reid Avenue for another year with an aggregate of 37-30. Sri Lanka’s highest scorer and world-renowned Tharjini Sivalingam retired from international netball.

Unbeaten St. Peter’s College clinched the Dialog Schools Rugby League and the Knockout to dethrone Isipathana College from the school rugby . B-Love Kandy clinched their maiden LPL title, beating Dambulla Aura in the thrilling final.

September Sri Lanka chased down 116 runs in the 3rd T20I to clinch an unlikely series win against England at Derby. Mohammed Siraj produced one of the best-ever bowling performances in ODI history to steamroll Sri Lanka to 50 runs as India won the Asia Cup 2023 final by 10 wickets. Sri Lanka women’s team led by Chamari Athapaththu managed to claim a Silver medal in the Women’s Cricket Competition of the Asian Games 2023, as they went down fighting against India in the final of the tournament in Hangzhou, China.

Sri Lankan cricketer Danishka Gunathilaka, who was accused of raping a woman while in Australia for the T20 World Cup, was cleared by court. Sri Lanka’s most accomplished shuttle star Niluka Karunaratne retired from international competitive badminton.

October New Sports Director General Dr Shemal Fernando was appointed Nadeesha Dilhani Lekamge ended the 17-year-old Asian Games athletics medal drought clinching the Silver medal in Women’s Javelin Throw with a performance of 61.57m.

Tharushi Karunaratne created history, winning a Gold medal in the Women’s 800m at the Asian Games. Sri Lanka emerged champions at the Central Asian Men’s Volleyball Challenge Cup (CAVA) 2023.

Sri Lankan athletic and rugby legend Summa Navaratnam passed away. Sri Lanka’s legendary cheerleader Percy Abeysekera, who was known as ‘Uncle Percy’, passed away

November The World Rugby Council lifted the temporary ban imposed on Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR). Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe appointed an interim committee headed by Arjuna Ranatunga for Sri Lanka Cricket. Appeal Court issues an interim order suspending the Sports Minister’s gazette.

Sri Lankan para athletes excelled at Para Asian Games in China . Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning hero Aravinda de Silva was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame

Australia won the 2023 Cricket World Cup, beating India in the final.Sri Lanka had to be satisfied with ninth place ahead of Netherlands . Chess Olympiad gold medalist Suneetha Wijesooriya was felicitated by world chess Federation for her excellent support to young chess players as a trainer ( FIDR

December The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board suspended Sri Lanka Cricket’smembership Harin Fernando appointed as new Sports Minister Police SC created history to share Major clubs cricket league joint champions with SSCSanath Jayasuriya the Master Blaster was appointed Overall Cricket Consultant.

The new cricket selection committee headed by Upul Tharanga appointed . Harshana Tillekaratne emerged champion.at Western Asian junior Chess championship Buwaneka Goonatilleka and Ranithma Liyanage retained National Badminton men’ s and women’s titles at 71 st National championship. Supuna Warusawithana and Bimandee Bandara clinched National Table Tennis championship Chaturika Priyanthi set up new Sri Lanka record at National weight lifting championship at Polonnaruwa .

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