Sports
Hockey players of Eastern University cry foul after being denied Inter University Games
By Reemus Fernando
The hockey players of the Eastern University are crying foul over the decision of the Director of Physical Education of the University to not approve their entry forms to participate in the Inter University Hockey Tournament which was scheduled to commence at Rajarata University yesterday.
The higher-ups have requested to drop two selected players from the team for the said tournament to make way for two senior players who had not trained alongside the team.
The director of physical education at the Eastern University has not approved the entry form after team officials decided to continue with the originally picked team.
“The players have been preparing for the tournament for months. They were looking forward to compete at the Inter University Hockey Tournament. Now their hopes are shattered and they are really disappointed,” a source close to the team told ‘The Island’.
Of the 23 sports taken part by the Eastern University, hockey is the only sport trained at the Trinco Campus. Athletes at the Trinco Campus go to the Campus in Batticaloa for training for the other 22 sports. The men’s and women’s hockey teams consisting of players from both Trinco and Batticaloa campuses had trained for months for the tournament according to sources. But the controversial players whom the authorities have requested to include in the team have not taken part in a single training session.
“It is not fair to drop players who have trained for months and are selected on merit,” the source said.
The president of the Sub Sports Council of the Trinco Campus has raised concerns regarding the matter. The Sub Sports Council of Trinco has also requested president Anura Kumara Dissanayake to intervene to resolve what he called unfair treatment to students of Trinco Campus. In a letter addressed to the president the Sports Council urge to give equal opportunities to the scholar sportsmen and women of Trinco Campus.
Following are excerpts from the letter to the president.
“The Director of the Physical Education Unit of Eastern University refused to approve the men’s hockey team unless two students from the main campus, who did not attend a single practice session, were included. This last-minute demand, made without consideration for merit or fairness, ultimately led to the exclusion of the entire hockey team from the competition. By this demand made by the director of the Physical Education Unit and other responsible authorities of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka has violated the rights of the players and this has finally led the players to lose their opportunity to participate in the Inter University Games.
This unfortunate incident is not isolated to the hockey team. Athletes from our campus across several sports have faced similar barriers, with Trincomalee Campus students being unfairly overlooked for participation. This systemic bias is disheartening and contradicts the values of equal opportunity and fair representation in university-level sports.
Your Excellency, the students of Trincomalee Campus, like those from any other campus in the country, deserve the chance to represent their university and showcase their abilities. The exclusion of these talented athletes is not only unjust but also detrimental to the morale and spirit of our students. In this regard, we humbly request you to take necessary actions.”
Chamari Athapaththu’s all-round show helped Sri Lanka level the ODI series against Bangladesh in Rajshahi. The visitors won by four wickets after chasing down the home side’s sub-par 165 all out in 45.5 overs.
Athapaththu, who had missed the first match due to a finger injury, roared back into action with three wickets. She started off with Sarmin Sultana’s wicket in the 16th over, although the batter expressed her disbelief at the umpire’s lbw decision against her. Athapaththu then removed Sobhana Mostary in her next over by having her caught at square leg.
Nilakshika Silva then took a brilliant catch at mid-off to help Athapaththu take her third wicket when Ritu Moni had mistimed a cover drive in the 31st over. Sharmin Akhter, Bangladesh’s top-scorer from the first ODI, fell for a duck to Malki Madara in the fifth over.
Captain Nigar Sultana top-scored on Wednesday with 58 off 101 balls with four boundaries. She had little support at the other end, before Nimesha Meepage had her caught behind in the 41st over.
Madara, Meepage and Inoka Ranaweera took two wickets each while Kavisha Dilhari picked up one.
During the chase, Athapaththu dominated the Bangladesh attack despite little support from her top order. She made 40 off 39 balls with eight fours, before falling to left-arm spinner Nahida Akhter in the 17th over. Nahida gave her a send-off, with Athapaththu staring back at her for several seconds before walking off.
Harshitha Samarawickrema and Hansima Karunaratne then added 79 runs for the fourth wicket to get Sri Lanka close to the 166-run target. Samarawickrama made 50 off 76 balls with seven fours, while Karunaratne struck six fours in her 40 off 64 balls.
Nahida removed both batters, before getting Kaushini Nuthyangana to complete her four-wicket haul. Sultana Khatun and Moni, meanwhile, took one wicket each.
The third and final ODI of the three-match series will also be held in Rajshahi, on April 25.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women 166 for 6 in 38.2 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 40, Harshitha Samarawickrama 50, Hansima Karunaratne 40; Sultana Khatun 1-36, Ritu Moni 1-27, Nahida Akter 4-21) beat Bangladesh Women 165 in 45.5 overs (Sarmin Sultana 25, Nigar Sultana 58, Nahider Akter 20; Malki Madara 2-30, Nimesha Meepage 2-29, Inoka Ranaweera 2-28, Chamari Athapaththu 3-36, ) by four wickets
[Cricinfo]
The Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2026 will be held from 10th July to 5 August 2026.
The sixth edition of the much-anticipated T20 league will be played across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RPICS, Colombo; PICS, Pallekele; and RDICS, Dambulla.
The online portal for foreign player registration will open on 4th May 2026.
The tournament will be conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder of the tournament.
The Lanka Premier League, Sri Lanka’s premier domestic T20 tournament with an international flavor, was launched in 2020.
Samantha Dodanwela, who is an Executive Committee Member of the SLC, will continue to function as the Tournament Director.
Wasim Khan will step down as the ICC’s general manager, cricket after four years in the role.
Wasim took over from Geoff Allardice in May 2022, after Allardice assumed the CEO role at the ICC. Wasim had arrived at the ICC after nearly three years as the PCB’s CEO.
Wasim was the first British-born Muslim to play county cricket, turning out for Warwickshire in the mid-to-late 90s. A left-handed batter, he played 58 first-class matches and 30 List A matches for Warwickshire, Sussex and Derbyshire. He was part of Warwickshire’s county title-winning campaign in 1995, averaging nearly 50 through the season.
He has since built an impressive administrative career, including a stint as CEO at Leicestershire county and before that at Cricket Foundation where he helped transform Chance to Shine into a leading national cricket charity in the UK.
One of the main challenges during Wasim’s stint at the ICC was an increasingly cramped cricket schedule with more T20 and T10 leagues eating into the space for international cricket. But in the last Future Tours Programme (2023-27) which was finalised during his time, there was actually an increase in the amount of international cricket. The first ever Women’s FTP was also unveiled in this period.
Wasim will finish at the end of June and is set to take up another role from July. His impending exit follows the departure of several senior ICC officials over the last two years, including Allardice – replaced by Sanjog Gupta as CEO – Chris Tetley (head of evens) and Alex Marshall, who led the anti-corruption unit. Tetley has been replaced by Gaurav Saxena and Marshall by Andrew Ephgrave.
[Cricinfo]
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