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Five High Commissioners, nine Ambassadors present credentials to the President
President Ranil Wickremesinghe received the credentials of five newly appointed High Commissioners and nine Ambassadors to Sri Lanka at the Colombo Fort President’s House this morning (05).
The High Commissioners representing New Zealand, the Republic of Cyprus, the Maldives, the Republic of Sierra Leone, and the Republic of Mauritius were present. Additionally, Ambassadors from the Republic of Guatemala, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Republic of Estonia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Turkey, Ireland, the Hellenic Republic (Greece), and the Republic of Bulgaria also handed over their credentials.
A brief ceremony was organized at the Colombo Fort Presidential Palace to officially welcome the new High Commissioners and Ambassadors.
The new High Commissioners and Ambassadors who presented their credentials to President Wickremesinghe today:
1. Mr. Omar Castañeda Solares – Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala based in New Delhi.
2. Mr. Ali Achoui – Ambassador of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria in New Delhi.
3. Ms. Marje Luup – Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia in New Delhi.
4. Mr. Bounmy Vanmany – Ambassador of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic based in New Delhi.
5. Mr. Victor Hugo Echeverri – Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia based in New Delhi.
6. Mr. David Gregory Pine – High Commissioner of the New Zealand based in Colombo.
7. Mr. Semih Lütfü Turgut – Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye based in Colombo.
8. Mr. Evagoras Vryonides – High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus based in New Delhi.
9. Mr. Kevin Kelly – Ambassador of Ireland based in New Delhi.
10. Mr. Masood Imad – High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives based in Colombo.
11. Ms. Aliki Koutsomitopoulou – Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic based in New Delhi.
12. Mr. Abu Bakarr Karim – High Commissioner of the Republic of Sierra Leone based in Beijing.
13. Dr. Nikolay Yankov – Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria based in New Delhi.
14. Mr. Haymandoyal Dillum – High Commissioner of the Republic of Mauritius based in New Delhi.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabri PC, along with President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, were also present at the occasion.
Following the acceptance of credentials, President Ranil Wickremesinghe engaged in friendly discussion with the new High Commissioners and Ambassadors. Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Staff to the President Sagala Ratnayaka, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aruni Wijewardena, and other officials also attended the event.
Egypt forward Mohamed Salah has signed a new two-year contract with Liverpool.
The 32-year-old’s previous deal was scheduled to run out in the summer and there had been doubts he would stay with the Reds following comments from him during the season and speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia.
However, he is staying and will have the chance to add to his 243 goals and 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances.
“Of course I’m very excited – we have a great team now,” said Salah.
“Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football.
“I have played eight years here, hopefully it’s going to be 10. I’m enjoying my life here, enjoying my football. I have had the best years of my career here.”
Salah has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season, including 27 in the Premier League as the Reds chase a 20th top-flight title. Liverpool are 11 points clear of second-placed Arsenal with seven games remaining.
Salah, who joined Liverpool from Roma in 2017, has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup with the Reds.
He was one of three key Liverpool players who will be out of contract this summer, along with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold and centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
Netherlands defender Van Dijk has said there has been progress on talks over a new deal but Alexander-Arnold has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid.
[BBC]
MS Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the remainder of IPL 2025 after Rutraj Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season with an elbow injury.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development on the eve of the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday. It is a significant blow to CSK, who have made a bad start to their campaign by losing four of their first five matches. They are currently ninth in the points table, above only Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Gaikwad suffered the injury during CSK’s match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on March 30. He was struck on his unprotected elbow after stepping out to fast bowler Tushar Deshpande and missing the ball in the second over of CSK’s unsuccessful chase, but continued batting and scored 63 in that game. He played two more games after that and made 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on April 5 and 1 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on April 8. After five games, he was CSK’s second-highest run-scorer with 122 runs at a strike rate of 150.61; he was CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL 2024.
“He [Gaikwad] got hit in Guwahati. He’s been operating with an amount of pain,” Fleming said in Chennai. “We got an X-ray, which was inconclusive, and we had an MRI, which revealed a fracture in his elbow, in the radial neck.
“So we’re disappointed, and feel for him. We appreciate the efforts that he’s gone to in terms of trying to play, but unfortunately, he’d be out of the tournament from now. We have an uncapped player, MS Dhoni, who will take over as captain for the remainder of the IPL.”
Dhoni, 43, had led CSK from 2008 until 2024, when he handed the captaincy to Gaikwad. He had also handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja in 2022, but took back the leadership some way into the season after the team went through a bad run of results. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have won five IPL titles in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 and two Champions League trophies as well.
“He [Dhoni] had no hesitation to step up and help guide us out of this if we can,” Fleming said. “So that was never a doubt. We’ll look at replacements. We’ve got some good players in the squad that have been with us a while, so we’ll look from within first. But yeah, there is an opportunity to see how we can enhance the squad probably moving forward into subsequent years.”
After their home game against KKR on today, CSK play two away games against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 14 and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 20.
[Cricinfo]
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