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‘TIME’ magazine honours Muralitharan
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Sri Lankas Champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been honoured by the prestigious TIME magazine and included in their annual top twenty Young Asia Heroes list this year.

Muralitharan will receive the award at a grand ceremony in Seoul,South Korea on Wednesday.Speaking to the Sunday Times Muralitharan said,"I am proud and delighted to be honoured by the TIME magazine.It's not easy to be selected for an award of this nature.I think it's a great honour for me and my country".

The 32 year old Muralitharan who is currently test crickets second highest wicket taker is among four sports personalities honoured by the magazine. The other three are - Liu Xiang ,Gold medalist at the Athens Olympics 110 mt hurdles, Ichiro Suzuki - Japanese young baseball star and Song Aree -the sensational champion lady golfer from South Korea.

This is the third time that the TIME magazine has honoured outstanding personalities and is the first instance where a Sri Lankan has been selected.According to the TIME magazine the twenty individuals are personalities who have done something brave,bold and remarkable before they have reached the age of forty.

Since making his test debut in 1990 Muttiah Muralitharan has mesmerized batsman round the world and picked up wickets at an amazing strike rate that saw him cross the world record of 519 wickets held by Courtney Walsh earlier this year in only his 89 th test match.Although the spin wizard lags behind Shane Warne today ,he is expected to surpass the Australian and regain the position as the top test wicket taker in the history of the game soon.

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