The year that was
Tharushi Karunarathna created history, winning a Gold medal in the Women’s 800m at the Asian Games.
January
Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka won the Men’s and Women’s Singles titles at the Australian Open.
Sri Lanka U-23 win the third place at the Under-23 Central Asian Volleyball Championship held in Bangladesh.
Former parliamentarian J. Sri Ranga was elected as the President of the Football Federation of
Sri Lanka (FFSL).
India completed a clean sweep in a bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka.
FIFA suspended FFSL from January 21 until further notice citing political interference at the election.
National Badminton Championships: 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
Real Madrid won the Club World Cup for a record-extending fifth time after beating Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal 5-3 in the final in Rabat, Morocco.
Chamari Athapaththu (68) and Inoka Ranaweera contribute 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.
Australia won their sixth and third consecutive ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title beating hosts South Africa in the final by 19 runs
Hatton National Bank (HNB) won the 2023 Dialog National Netball Championship defeating Air Force 29-44 in the final
The Webb Ellis Cup landed in Sri Lanka for the first time.
Nippon Paint Rugby League 2022/23: 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
ITTF Para Open Table Tennis Championship: Dinesh Deshapriya won the Gold in the ITTF Para Open Table Tennis (TT) (Class 9) Championship in Giza, Egypt.
World Test Championship: Led by Kane Williamson’s expertly-paced 121, New Zealand secured a thrilling last-ball win by 2 wickets at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch to not only beat Sri Lanka but also end their hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship final.
Royal College registered an emphatic 180-run win over S. Thomas’ College in the 144th Battle of the Blues encounter played for the Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake Memorial 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 cover 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.
Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic with Shohei Ohtani winning tournament MVP.
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 emerge 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.
5th Asian Youth Athletics Championship 2023: 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 completes 50 wickets in seven Tests to claim the record for reaching the mark in fewer matches than any other spinner.
May
Manchester City won the Premier League title
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
Manchester City won the FA Cup, defeating bitter rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the final.
Sri Lankan athletes Tharushi Karunaratne and Jayeshi Uttara bag 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 Goonathileka 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 at the Jeonju Hwasan Gymnasium in South Korea.
Manchester City won the Champions League, beating Inter Milan 1-0 to complete a historic treble.
The final of the 2021-2023 ICC World Test Championship was played at The Oval, London, between Australia and India. Australia won the match by 209 runs to win the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship
Novak Djokovic won the French Open and became the all-time leader in men’s grand slam titles.
A century from Chamari Athapaththu paved the way for Sri Lanka to register a comfortable 9-wicket win over New Zealand, their first ever against the side in any format, 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.
Major League Soccer club Inter Miami officially announce the signing of Lionel Messi.
Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic while Markéta Vondroušová beat Ons Jabeur to secure Men’s and Women’s Wimbledon Singles titles.
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 throne.
B-Love Kandy clinched their maiden LPL title, beating Dambulla Aura in the thrilling final.
FIFA lifted the suspension placed on Football Federation of Sri Lanka with immediate effect.
Soccer superstar Neymar Jr. signed for Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal, the highest profile name amongst a slew of international players to move to the burgeoning Saudi Pro League.
Spain won the Women’s Football World Cup for the first time, defeating England 1-0 in the final.
Royal Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales was accused of multiple instances of inappropriate behavior after Spain’s victory, most notably forcibly kissing midfielder Jennifer Hermoso during the trophy ceremony.
Sha’Carri Richardson won the Women’s 100m final at the World Athletics Championships.
Simone Biles made history at the US Gymnastics Championships with her eighth all-around title.
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 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 Danushka Gunathilaka, who was accused of raping a woman while in Australia for the T20 World Cup, was cleared by the court.
Sri Lanka’s most accomplished shuttle star Niluka Karunaratne retired from international competitive badminton representing Sri Lanka.
Novak Djokovic won the Men’s Singles title at the US Open.
October
Nadeesha Dilhani Lekamge ends 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 Karunarathna 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 is well known as ‘Uncle Percy’, passed away
Max Verstappen was crowned Formula 1 world champion for the third time, securing the title in the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.
South Africa won the Rugby World Cup with a 12-11 victory over New Zealand.
Lionel Messi won a record-extending eighth Ballon d’Or award.
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.
Australia won the 2023 Cricket World Cup, beating India in the final.
Novak Djokovic won the ATP Finals, defeating Jannik Sinner with ease, 6-3 6-3.
December
Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning hero Aravinda de Silva was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board suspended Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership.
