Ford prefers Lankans to be the underdogs
By S.R. Pathiravithana Suddenly there are some new kids on the block and a thousand questions are being asked. Now everyone wants to know as to who would be opening the batting. They are keen to find out if veteran Tillekeratne Dilshan would really be opening the inning with Danushka Gunatilleke and who would be [...]
The worst ever marathon at Sports Festival
By Susil Premalal The men’s and women’s marathons of the 42nd National Sports Festival held at Kuliyapitiya yesterday, conducted by the Sports Ministry, were the worst ever. Most of the reputed marathon runners skipped the event. Only 60 male runners and 20 women took part in the event. This was the lowest number of runners [...]
Sailors row home for an easy win
By Narendra Kulatunga Dinusha Chaturanga, Lee Keegal and Nivanka Prasad came up brilliant performances and that aided Navy ‘A’ clinch the second edition of the Western Province Rugby Sevens title, with complete ease at Police Park yesterday. Thus the Sailors beat Havelocks ‘A’ by 32 points to 10 points. At the break Navy led 15-5. [...]
Thou shall not wilt — believe in your inner ability
Though his deliveries do not contain any freebies, Rangana Herath in general is a nice bloke who likes to live by what he believes in. Right now his stocks are worth a weight in gold. Yet, like a kid he was delighted by the praises heaped on him by his coach Graeme Ford. When Herath [...]
A dark-horse appeared in Rio
Puig and Murray snatch gold When the Rio Tennis event reached quarter-final stage, the run for medals did not miss the elite absenteeism or the early seeded victims of the draw as the final three rounds produced outstanding quality of Tennis. In the women’s side Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig gave her country its first Olympic [...]
Now to follow the Under-20 success
Sri Lankan U 20 Sevens create history is a phrase that screamed after the juniors were crowned overall winners after the two leg Asian Sevens series. What is more important is not the writing of history but to plan as we have the men and material. History is in my view is not the best [...]
Janali steals the limelight at SLTA
The 101st National Tennis Championship, continued to the final week with competitors dishing out fascinating tennis as Thisuri Molligoda outplayed Nethmi Waduge to clinch the Women’s Open title at the SLTA courts yesterday. Molligoda beat Waduge 2-0 in straight sets as the competition reaches its final day, today. The highlights of the last week matches [...]
Kavindu slams quick fire double ton
Kavindu Umayanga slammed a quick fire unbeaten 201 in only 139 balls as Holy Cross College Kalutara coasted to an easy first inning win over DSS in the pre-quarter final match of the Under-Division One cricket tournament played at Kalutara. Kavindu was also involved in a massive 214 run stand for the third wicket with [...]
St. Peter’s, Ananda and Thurstan advance to semi-finals
St. Peter’s along with Ananda and Thurstan came out victorious in their quarter-final encounters against Mahinda, DSS and Maliyadeva respectively to advance to the semi-finals of the Under 17 Division One cricket tournament in the matches played at Thurstan ground, Lyceum IS ground in Wattala and St Peter’s ground in Bambalapitiya. A knock of 56 [...]
Sri Lanka Telecom ahead at Mercantile Athletic Meet
Sri Lanka Telecom was in the lead on the second day of the 33rd Mercantile Athletic Championships at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Complex in Diyagama yesterday. Today is the final day of the competition. Over 60 companies are taking part in the contest featuring nearly 1,500 athletes. A feature of the meet is that all [...]
Wins for Seylan Men and Women
Seylan Bank started the 26th Mercantile League Tournament 2016 with a bang when its Women’s and Men’s teams registering victories in the preliminary round over Nations Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank respectively at the Henry Pedris Basketball Courts on the opening day. Seylan Women playing in the ‘A’ Division scored a close 46-42 win [...]
Introspection and cleansing of SL Football’s Augean stables
The talk and the questions raised by the past Footballers and local fans are many, however, I will highlight a few. When did our National Football team last play an international match on home soil? Can the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) name our present National team? Why has the quality and the glamour [...]
Football: We have COPE, but scope and hope
With the parliamentary COPE committee revealing a few disturbing vibes about the state of affairs of Lankan Football, the Sunday Times inquired from a few insiders about the situation at hand. Sunil Senaweera (Secretary Gampola Football League and Former International Match Commissioner) “The game of football in Sri Lanka has deteriorated day by day. Though [...]
Ex-National Football Captain now a grave digger at 37
Another day dawns in Sri Lanka’s southern city of Galle and Ediri Bandanage or, E.B. Channa, the former National Football Captain, begins his daily routine. A father of 3 daughters, Channa, at 37, helps around the house a little before donning a Football jersey from his collection in a career that spanned almost 2 decades. [...]
Narangoda gets down to basics at the cradle of Cricket
A correct step in the right direction by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to improve the standard of Junior Cricket starting from Under (U)-15, was initiated last week at the NCC grounds. A bunch of budding cricketers nominated by their respective schools were seen at practices under the watchful eyes of Provincial Coaches under the supervision [...]
Mercs. Basketball League Tourney under-way
The Mercantile Services Basketball Association (MSBA)is all set to conduct its 26th edition of the League Tournament 2016, featuring a record number of 47 teams. The Men’s Tournament will have 38 teams playing in 5 divisions while 9 teams will play in 2 divisions in the Women’s tournament. The tournament, which got under-way on Thursday [...]
International Boxing Referee, Judge Udeni Kiridena does Sri Lanka proud in Rio
Udeni Kiridena, a name synonymous with Boxing, has done Sri Lanka proud on being selected a Referee, Judge for the Rio Olympic Games 2016, by the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA). Kiridena’s achievement, according to sources, is an honour to Sri Lanka, as he is one of the best international Boxing Referees selected through stringent [...]
Semi-finalists found in U-17 cricket
S de S. Jayasinghe MMV Dehiwala along with St Peter’s ‘B’, St Sebastian’s and Karandeniya Central qualified to the semi-finals of the Under-17 Division Two cricket tournament with easy wins in their quarter-final matches that were played around the island. S de S. Jayasinghe MMV pulled off a convincing 160 runs over the hapless St. Patrick’ [...]
Shivantha Vivekanandan uncontested Deaf School PPA President for 15th successive year
Shivantha Vivekanandan was uncontested as President for the 15th successive year, at the 67th Annual General Meeting of the Deaf School Past Pupils’ Association, the School for the Deaf, Ratmalana, held recently at the school hall. He is a distinguished past pupil from the School for the Deaf, Ratmalana, and Maryline High School, Kollupitiya, where [...]
‘blackwash’
On the 17th of March 1996, under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka won the coveted Cricket World Cup in Lahore beating Australia ever so comfortably by 7 wickets. On the 17th of August 2016, Sri Lanka inflicted an ignominious 3-nil Test defeat on the high-riding Australians (again!) who began the series occupying the [...]
Well done Selectors, but watch your step
Selectors are usually the favourite whipping-boys of disappointed, disgusted fans. But in this instance, Jayasuriya and his band seemed to have got it just right. They did not worry about the customary two paceman formula (most of them were injured and off the park, anyway). Instead they opted for three spinners and used the prerogative [...]
Stafford-Maliban, Asia Asset-Palliyaguruge tussle for Finals
Stafford Motors, the tournament sponsor, along with Maliban Biscuits, Asia Asset Finance and Palliyaguruge Group, booked semi-final berths at the Stafford–Honda MCA Division ‘G’ 25-Over League Tournament2016, after winning their quarter-final fixtures played last weekend. In the semi-finals, Maliban Biscuits will take on Stafford Motors at Mattegoda while at the MCA ground, Asia Asset Finance [...]