Aussies spun around by unheralded Lankans
Angelo Matthews’ much-maligned men performed the incredible when they swept to a 106-run win over Australia slightly before tea on day five of the opening Test in the series at the Pallekele Stadium yesterday. Under the cash for their performances from the World Cup, the Sri Lankans, unheralded and unsung, came back in a big [...]
Stakeholders stir in their own ingredients into the Rugby pot
A round school life, there was always an array of food sold by the gates and most enjoyed, with ‘ahcharu’ always on the menu. The spiced and mouthwatering assortment of fruit made us madder at wanting to eat some. Then, there was the ‘achharu’ grandma made for the New Year, that went with our food. [...]
SL Netballers Thailand bound with hopes of regaining status
“The Sri Lanka (SL) Netball team expects to go a long way at the 10th Asian Senior Netball Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, starting with the curtain-raiser against newcomers Afghanistan. With an expected win against the Afghans tomorrow (August 1), the SL lasses are determined to finish the tournament as Asian winners,” captain Gayani Dissanayake told [...]
NOC decides to do away with Managers for Rio Olympics
In an unusual move the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka has decided to do away with managers for the forthcoming Rio Olympics which will begin on August five. The authorities have decided that there would be no managers for any of the relevant sports – Athletics, Swimming, Rifle Shooting, Judo and Badminton. In similar [...]
SLC firm – No support for two-tier Cricket at ICC
Sri Lanka Cricket in a brave stance refused their support to the Two Tier ranking system which has been proposed by the International Cricket Council. During the just concluded Test match at Pallekelle, ICC CEO David Richardson who was also present at the occasion took the opportunity to make a presentation on the advantages of [...]
Tour leader Dharshana Prasad overall winner
Dharshana Prasad of Sri Lanka Navy emerged as the Tour Leader and was in front on the penultimate day of the SLT Speed Up Cycle Tour. The fourth day of the race ended in Anuradhapura yesterday. The five day tour which ends today. So far 577 kms have been completed with Tour Leader Dharshana Prasad [...]
Aussie press brands their Cricketers “studs and duds”
The media in Australia reacted with shock and awe as its cricketers were humbled by Sri Lanka on the last day of the first Test match in Kandy, in game that had already made headlines Down Under for the recruitment of Muttiah Muralitharan – once demonised as a ‘chucker’ in Australia – as its spin [...]
Lankans complete two stunning wins but lose to Japan
The gallant Sri Lanka Under-20 Sevens team, skippered by former Peterite Kevin Dixon, made a formidable impression at the Johor Sevens in Malaysia, in the first leg of the Asian Under 20 Sevens Series. In the matches worked out yesterday, the Sri Lankan team in the Group ‘B’ so far, overcame Philippines 22-5 and Thailand [...]
Muraligate: SLC’s crab-walk boogie
It sounds like the ‘crab-walk boogie’. From one end, the Lankan Cricket authorities are berating Muttiah Muralitharan and making various insinuations. From the other end, the World Cricket authorities have come out and bestowed on the ‘smiling assassin of cricket’ the highest accolade that a Sri Lankan Cricketer could ever have received. The ICC statement [...]
Rio, torn between ethics and success
After the last ancient Greek Olympics, for over a thousand years there were none, until it was revived in 1896 by the French. Could it have been an issue like what is happening now, that made the Olympics vanish for that long a period in time? On an ideological issue, Russia did not go for [...]
P&S sustains SLTA’s Junior Tennis Initiative programme
From this year, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) will re-brand its long-term vision to nurture young talent with the Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) programme, and have Perera and Sons (P&S) as its title sponsor. The JTI programme will be under two key sections – Mini Tennis, also known as the Tennis 10s, and Performance [...]
Schools U-17 Hockey begins tomorrow
The Sri Lanka Inter-School Under-17 Hockey Championship will get underway at the Rajarata University ground in Mihintale from tomorrow. The four-day tournament, featuring 50 teams — 32 boy’s and 18 girls’, will end on Thursday. This is the very first occasion that a hockey tournament is being held in the North Central Province and outside [...]
Renown SC stays unbeaten
Last year’s runners-up Renown SC Colombo crushed Police SC 6-2 in the Dialog Champions League football encounter at the Kelaniya Football Complex yesterday. Thus Renown SC retains their lead at the top in the Dialog Champions League Points Table. Renown SC who is in Group ‘B’ has so far played six games winning all six. [...]
‘Rumbling Wonder of Digamadulla’ hosts Rally Sri Lanka 2016
A total of 24 cars will compete at Rally Sri Lanka 2016, a speed rally organised by the Southern Motor Sports Club (SMSC) under the tagline of ‘Rumbling Wonder of Digamadulla’, from August 4 to 7. The race will see a total of 48 well reputed rally drivers and co-drivers made up of 46 Lankans [...]
No hopes for Sri Lanka at Rio Olympics say Minister of Sports and NOC President
“Sri Lanka could not win 50 Gold medals at the 2016 South Asian Games in India. How can we expect to fare well at the Rio Olympics?, “asked Hemasiri Fernando, President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka to a question posed by the Sunday Times. “This time nine athletes are going to Rio and [...]
Who should run school’s rugby?
The Minister of Sports last week revealed that he has instructed the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) to take charge of the Under-20 Schools League Rugby Championship from next season. This he said is mainly with intentions of putting a halt to amateurish conduct of the Schools Rugby section, which gave verdicts that still [...]
JOYRIDES?
All eyes are on the contingent which is heading for a major sporting event which is held every four years. A large number of officials are set to visit this country which exceeds the amount of athletes by a staggering margin. The cost of the return air-ticket to the venue of this major sports event [...]
Marikkar resigns from Kandy Club
The Secretary of Kandy Club, Hafiz Marikkar has resigned from his position after the club continued its sluggish conduct in managing affairs. According to sources the Kandy Club was due to hold its Annual General Meeting earlier this month but was postponed thrice after the Treasurer could not submit account reports on time. Marikkar, a [...]
Seven-a-side Rugby: A leaf from our history
Another major event will be added to the island’s Rugby history with the ‘kick off’ of the “Super 7s” tournament scheduled for the first weekend in August. The first ever ’7-a-side’ Rugby match in Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known) was played in 1931 at Ratnapura. The man who introduced this shorter version of [...]
LB Finance (Tier ‘A’), Janashakthi (Tier ‘B’) MCA 6-a-side Champs
LB Finance and Janashakthi Insurance proved their superiority in the shortest version of the game by winning the Tier ‘A’ and Tier ‘B’ titles respectively, in the MCA Annual Open Six-a-side Cricket Tournament 2016, concluded at the MCA and Thurstan College grounds last Sunday. The tournament commenced on Saturday, July 23, with 18 teams playing [...]
13th MCA ExCo-Lanka Cavaliers duel for ‘Tyrone de Silva’ Trophy
The MCA Executive Committee will come out of their conference room today to meet Lanka Cavaliers in their 13th Annual Cricket encounter at the MCA grounds, commencing 10 am. In their last encounter on September 19, 2015 at the MCA grounds, the MCA ExCo edged out Lanka Cavaliers by 5 runs to regain the ‘Tyrone [...]
Congratulations Murali on a long overdue honour
The majority of lovers of cricket, especially the Sri Lankan supporters, would be thrilled that Muttiah Muralitharan, known the world over as ‘Murali’ has been inducted as the 80th member of the ICC’s Hall of Fame. He is the first Sri Lankan to be thus honoured. Those appointed to this coveted membership are based on [...]
Security-Men, Sales-Women, Shuttle Champs of Cinnamon Grand
The Security and Sales teams won the Men’s and Women’s titles respectively, at the 2016 Cinnamon Grand Inter-Department Badminton Championship held at the Royal College Indoor Sports Complex on July 23. With 20 teams competing, the games were intense and well contested. Security Eagles won the Men’s Open championship beating Finance Tuskers ‘B’. Sales Force [...]
Murali and the Guru Mushtiya
Over the past few weeks there has been so much written and spoken about our cricketer Muralathiran accepting a coaching assignment with the Australian cricket team ahead of the current series of test and one day international matches, that I felt Citizen Silva must add his two cents worth to the discussion. There have been [...]
Dwindling spectator interest at Test matches continues
Dear Sir, In the 1st Test, in the 3-Test series between Sri Lanka and Australia, what is pragmatic is the “Dwindling spectator curiosity”, which was pretty apparent at the venues in the previous series against India, Pakistan and the West Indies. It is regrettable that spectator interest has not shown any significant improvement at all, [...]
What are the responsibilities of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka?
Our recent performance in England let down the Sri Lankan cricket fans. They are unhappy and disappointed with our cricketers. Many fans, from left and right, criticize our lads. Cricket lovers expect very high standards from their national cricketers and want them to carry all before them in every match. But it is not an [...]