Sports

A Request to Chairman of National Sports Council

Published

5 years ago

2020/09/8

A Request to Chairman of National Sports Council Mr. Mahela Jayawardene, and to its members, especially Mr. Kumar Sangakkara.
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D. (Cornell)
Olympian 1952 and 1956.
Gold Medalist 1958 Asian Games, Tokyo.

My appreciation to Mr. Sangakkara for addressing, in his interview with Rex Clementine in the Island newspaper of August 22, 2020, the need to update the Sports Law of 1973 and its subsequent amendments. Though there are many sections that needed to be updated, I would like to specifically address two that need to be included or updated. I am making my observations and recommendation to improve the sports associations’ noble efforts in the spirit of the Olympic Games and not as a criticism.

They are:

1. Specify new requirements for registration of any Olympic Sport to be formed as a National Sports Association in addition to the current requirement.

2. Specify new requirements for any National Sports Association that wants to be affiliated to the corresponding International Association and the National Olympic Committee (NOC), in addition to the current requirement.

There are, as of end of 2019, thirteen (13) Olympic Sports Associations or Federations affiliated to the NOC Sri Lanka. Out of them Cricket, Athletics, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball have functioning District Associations in all, or a majority, of the 25 Districts in Sri Lanka. The other registered National Sports Associations affiliated to the NOC are not as well registered in Districts across the country. This assessment is by personal observation. None of the associations have indicated in their websites the number of District Associations, their membership, or whether the District associations are represented in their Council. Such information should be published.

The rational for my suggestion of item 1 and 2 is based on the Spirit of the Olympic Games and Olympism, Vision and Mission that were adopted by the NOC SL (See Constitution of NOC SL adopted 04-01-2018)

“Olympism is a philosophy of life which places sport at the service of humanity. This philosophy is based on the interaction of the qualities of the body, will and mind. Olympism is expressed through actions which link sport to culture and education.”

Vision

Contribute to the building of a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practices without discrimination of any form whatsoever and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

Mission

Develop, promote and protect the Olympic movement in Sri Lanka, in accordance with the Olympic Charter”. “Also committed to propagate Sports in Sri Lanka and thereby to achieve unity and brotherhood among the different communities living in Sri Lanka and to promote sportsmanship and healthy competition in the World Sports Arena.

Except for the Associations or Federations mentioned above none of the others are abiding by the spirit of Olympism or the NOC’s Vision and Mission. In most of such associations they do not abide by their Mission, Vision and Aim as stated in their websites.

The rationale for Items 1 and 2 above is based on observation of the activities of the National Sports Associations. For example, Soccer, Cricket, Athletics have functioning District Associations and have also spread their sport activities to most schools in almost all of the 25 Districts in Sri Lanka.

Many of the National Associations that are affiliated currently as members of the National Olympic Committee are not active in more than 3 – 5 Districts. Examples are Tennis, Golf, Archery, Rowing, Aquatic Sports, Yacht Association of Sri Lanka (YASL). Such organisations however represent Sri Lanka, at the expense of funds allocated by the Sports Ministry, because of their affiliation to the NOC and International Associations of their respective sports.

International Associations, except the ICC, do not have or have not published established criteria of representation a country should require to represent and to be affiliated to the International Association beyond the legal requirement to register an organisation within a country. It is therefore important for the Sports Law to address the issue. National Sports Council can examine the problem and make amendments to the Sports Law to ensure that the National Sports Associations and Federations adhere to Olympism and the Vision and Mission of the NOC. The NOC Constitution has provisions to consider and make amendments in its Annual General Assembly.

It is important to require all of the NOC affiliates to establish District Associations to increase the pool of events Participants and Officials in their sport. Such a spread will improve performance and number of performers in their sports in local and international competitions. Such a spread will also give the youths in all of Sri Lanka equal opportunities to achieve their potential.

National Sports Associations and Federations may not have the financial resources to establish District Associations in all 25 Districts. To start with the Sports Ministry and the Mercantile sector can help Olympic Sports Associations in at least 13 Districts first and then increase to at least one each year.

An Association of any sport should not be accredited as a National Sports Association for membership in its corresponding International Association if it cannot give a chance to citizens in all or at least most of the Districts in Sri Lanka to be selected for a National Team.

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Sports

Home comforts, missed chances and a familiar coup culture

Published

11 hours ago

2026/03/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Young Pavan Rathnayake did not look like a newcomer during the World Cup and finished the campaign as the second highest run scorer.

If you are late for work and fancy beating every red light on Galle Road to clock in on time, you are chasing a mirage. Try the same stunt on Baseline Road and you will learn soon enough that Colombo traffic plays by its own rules. Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign was much the same. When you are ranked eighth in the world and expect to waltz into the semi-finals, that is wishful thinking. And as the old saying goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Reaching the Super Eight was no mean feat. Heavyweights like Australia were bundled out in the first round, while Afghanistan, tipped as dark horse, never quite got out of the paddock. On paper, Sri Lanka did what was expected of them. So why the hue and cry?

Because this was a home World Cup. England and New Zealand were served up on a silver platter in familiar conditions and Sri Lanka dropped the ball at the business end. Those were games there for the taking, matches where one nerveless knock could have turned the tide. Instead, they blinked. The final Super Eight clash against Pakistan, however, offered a glimpse of what this side can do when the pitch suits their armoury. On helpful tracks, they have begun to punch above their weight, trading blows with sides ranked well above them.

Yet the turbulence off the field continues to undo the good work on it. Perhaps it is time to think outside the box and appoint captains specifically for World Cups, leaders given a fixed tenure for the tournament cycle, empowered to plan without looking over their shoulders. Sri Lankan cricket has witnessed enough bloodless coups over the past 15 years to fill a political thriller.

In the past, it was established players, permanent fixtures in the XI, who engineered these power shifts when a younger man was handed the reins. Now the worrying trend is different. Even those unsure of their own places in the side are sharpening knives behind closed doors. That is a slippery slope and a dangerous precedent for a team trying to build a culture of accountability.

Not everything about this campaign was doom and gloom. Far from it. The fielding, for one, was razor sharp. Half-chances stuck, direct hits flew in like guided missiles and the athleticism in the ring saved crucial runs. For years this was Sri Lanka’s Achilles’ heel. Now it is fast becoming a strength, the result of sustained emphasis and hard graft behind the scenes.

Then there was young Pavan Rathnayake. Drafted into the squad barely a week before the tournament, the 23-year-old was expected to soak in the atmosphere and learn the ropes. Instead, he walked in at the deep end and swam like a seasoned pro. Rathnayake not only held the middle order together but finished as Sri Lanka’s second highest run-getter behind Pathum Nissanka, striking at over 150. He counter-punched spinners, found gaps with soft hands and cleared the ropes with fearless intent. It was a breakout campaign that left many wondering why he had been warming the benches for so long.

True, his domestic T20 numbers were hardly headline-grabbing. But selectors are paid to look beyond spreadsheets and see temperament, technique and ticker. Thank God Sri Lanka once had a man like Duleep Mendis backing a young Sanath Jayasuriya when the numbers did not stack up. Duleep saw the bigger picture and refused to lose faith.

by Rex Clementine

Sports

Madushani establishes national record in triple jump

Published

11 hours ago

2026/03/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Madushani Herath

Former Nannapurawa MV athlete Madushani Herath established a new Sri Lanka record in the women’s triple jump on the final day of the selection trial held at Diyagama on Sunday.

‎Currently, a management student of University of Kelaniya, Madushani cleared 13.68 metres to erase the record held by Vidusha Lakshani. Lakshani’s 13.66 metres record remained unshaken since 2019.

‎Madushani’s coach Krishantha Kumara said that the record breaking performance was a result of hardwork and combined coaching effort.

Latest News

Samson special leads India into the semi-finals

Published

11 hours ago

2026/03/2

Priyan

Sanju Samson celebrates taking India over the line [Cricinfo]

Sanju Samson was not India’s first-choice opener in the lead-up to the tournament. India changed that opening combination at the last moment, but Samson still wasn’t their first-choice opener for the first five matches of this World Cup. Brought in as an unlikely Plan B as India faced four must-win matches, Samson powered India’s highest successful chase at the T20 World Cups in the second of those.

It was good defensive bowling from India that restricted West Indies to 195 in this virtual quarter-final, a neat callback to the 2016 semi-final between these two sides when West Indies restricted India to 193. Like India were that night, West Indies were left ruing their opener’s slow innings, a 33-ball 32 from their captain Shai Hope. Outside that, the six-hitting pack scored 163 in 14.3 overs, more than the par for the conditions than their powerplay of 45 for 0.

Lacking extreme pace or mystery in their bowling, West Indies desperately needed asking-rate pressure or errors from batters who haven’t been in too many ICC must-win games. Those mistakes did come from Abhishek Dharma and Ishan Kishan, but Samson batted regally for his 97 not out off 50, taking few low-percentage options, reaching his first fifty in 13 innings in just 26 balls. This was the first time in the IPL and T20Is that Samson opened and stayed unbeaten in a successful chase, at the end of which he collapsed to his knees, looked at the heavens and crossed his heart.

West Indies brought in a new opener themselves, giving Roston Chase the job for the first time in international cricket so that they could have an offspinner for India’s left-hand batters. Chase surprisingly seemed much more at home, punishing errors in length from Arshdeep Singh, scooping Jasprit Bumrah, and sweeping Axar Patel, who completely handcuffed Hope.

Smartly, India kept bowling Axar, backloading Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy for bigger hitters. Hope scored only 15 runs off 13 balls from Axar. He made only ten boundary attempts in his 33-ball stay. By the time Varun bowled him to make it 20 matches with at least one wicket, West Indies had dawdled to 68 for 1 in 8.5 overs, and were looking at six overs from Bumrah and Varun in the last 11.

Curiously, at this point, India didn’t go straight to Bumrah, but took the defensive option of bowling another Hardik Pandya over. Hetmyer wasted little time in regaining the record for most sixes in a single World Cup, hitting two in the first six balls to go past Sahibzada Farhan’s 19.

Having overplayed their hand, India brought Bumrah back for the 12th over, and he dismissed both the set batters for 27 off 16 and 40 off 25. When two of your three batters have such returns, you should really be doing much better than West Indies’ 103 for 3 in 12 overs.

It is a testament to the six-hitting prowess in that West Indies middle order that they still ended up with a competitive score. It started with the last ball of the 15th over when Jason Holder walked at Pandya and hit him for a straight six. Arshdeep had his figures rearranged when Powell bludgeoned him for a 98-metre six and then flicked him for one that just cleared the rope in the 16th over. Varun’s last over was taken down by Holder; his 1 for 40 meant that seven out of his ten costliest analyses in T20Is have come in the last two and a half months.

Arshdeep came back to finish off well with no boundaries in the 19th over, but Holder and Powell managed to take 26 from overs 18 and 20, bowled by Bumrah.

Abhishek practically played the entirety of the first two overs of the chase, taking India to 12 for 0. There was a bit of unease around with West Indies expecting a desperate shot. Samson didn’t need any of those. He backed away to create his first four off Akeal Hosein, and then swept and pulled him for sixes.

While Samson was caressing boundaries, Abhishek and Kishan offered catches to Hetmyer at deep square leg. Hetmyer took both of them to make it 41 for 2 in 4.3 overs.

For some reason, India, so big on right-left combinations in the lead-up to the World Cup, have been inflexible about Suryalumar Yadav batting at No. 4. He hit a trademark six over backward of square leg, but two right-hand batters in the middle allowed West Indies to bowl their left-arm spinners. Suryakumar’s contribution to the 58-run third-wicket stand was 18 off 16.

Samson stayed imperious at the other end, finding boundaries whenever the asking rate reached threatening proportions.

Against Tilak Varma, Chase created pressure, bowling three dots in his first over, the 12th of the innings. Shamar Joseph, who had taken Suryakumar’s wicket, started the 13th over with India in the most trouble they ever were in the chase, needing 92 off the last eight and a match-up against offspin in front of them.

Samson hit the first four, followed by a hat-trick of fours from Tilak to remove any alarm from the chase. As a final piece of the cherry on top, Tilak ended Chase’s second over with a straight six. He fell to a sharp catch from Hetmyer at mid-off, but Tilak did a big job with his 27 off 15.

Fittingly, Samson ended the chase with two languid hits for a six and a four to cap off “one of the greatest days of my life”.

Brief scores:
India 199 for 5 in 19.2 overs (Abhishek Sharma 10, Sanju Samson 97*, Ishan Kishan 10, Suryakumar Yadav 18, Tilak Varma 27, Hardik Pandya 17; Akeal Hosein 1-22, Jason Holder 2-38, Shamar Joseph 2-42) beat West Indies 195 for 4 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 32, Roston Chase 40, Shimron Hetmyer 27, Sherfane Rutherford 14, Rovman Powell 34*, Jason Holder 37*; Hardik Pandya 1-40, Jasprit Bumrah 2-36, Varun Chakravarthy 1-40) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]