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COPE reprimands SLC

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By Saman Indrajith 

Members of the Parliamentary watchdog committee- COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) severely reprimanded the officials of the scandal-ridden Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) yesterday for their irresponsible attitudes and manner of handling finances.

The Sri Lanka Cricket officials were reprimanded at a probe conducted by the COPE at the parliamentary complex yesterday where it had been found that officials had not come there prepared with documents necessary for the audit, parliament sources said. 

The COPE investigation lasted for around one and half hours when its members decided to suspend the probe abruptly and ordered the officials to appear before the committee for its investigation in a month’s time, Chairman of the COPE Prof Charitha Herath said.

The Officials had been summoned to investigate the issues arising from the Audit Reports and Performance Reports pertaining to the financial years 2017 and 2018. Though the COPE had informed the officials to be present ready with documents, they came there empty handed, sources said.

Yesterday’s meeting presided by Prof Hearth comprised of COPE members Ministers Mahinda Amaraweera, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, State Ministers Indika Anuruddha, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Nalaka Godahewa and MPs Patali Champika Ranawaka, Jagath Pushpakumara, Eran Wickremaratne, Premanath C Dolawatte and S Rasamanickkam. 

Prof Herath said that there was no financial discipline in Sri Lanka Cricket administration. The informal manner of financial administration had resulted in chaos and many other problems of the institution, Prof Herath said adding that people have expressed  their displeasure on the conduct of the cricket governing body as well as the subsequent losses of the national team in recent matches. The officials should understand that Sri Lanka Cricket is not a property of some of them but belongs to the public. 

The COPE members found fault with Sri Lanka Cricket officials for not submitting for audit documents pertaining to contracts and other deals running over Rs 240 million in the year 2017. The officials could not produce those documents at yesterday’s investigation too, parliament sources said.

The COPE members also observed that the officials failed to submit for audit documents for various incomplete projects worth Rs 511 million as at the end of 2020.

COPE members questioned officials for not collecting a Rs 29 million television rights fee for the South Africa-Sri Lanka series in 2018. SLC head Shammi Silva said that there was a CID investigation in progress on the matter. It was revealed during yesterday’s probe that the aforementioned fee had been remitted on a personal bank account of an American national of the name of Diamond Chanel. The COPE members demanded to know from officials as to how such remittance could be made, yet the officials could not respond to the investigators’ satisfaction, sources said adding that COPE Chairman Prof Hearth instructed Secretary to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Anuradha Wijekoon to conduct a separate investigation on the matter and submit a report to the COPE within a month.

COPE members pointed out that the service contract of recruiting Chandika Hathurusinghe as the head coach of the Sri Lanka Cricket team was full of errors and now Haturusinghe has moved court against the unjust meted out to him. Officials in response said that Haturusinghe had a three year contract period but he had to be removed prematurely because he could not deliver the expected results.  It was also revealed that Sri Lanka Cricket had to pay 20 million rupees up to yesterday as legal fee for lawyers to attend to the legal action filed by Haturusinghe. 

The COPE members censured Sri Lanka Cricket officials for their failure to submit its annual reports for several years. The committee ordered the Secretary to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to submit those annual reports immediately, sources said. 



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First sprinter to run 100m in under 10 seconds dies

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Jim Hines held the world record in the men's 100m for nearly 15 years (pic BBC)

US sprinter Jim Hines, the first man to run the 100m in under 10 seconds, has died at the age of 76.

He broke the record in 1968 when he recorded a hand-timed 9.9 seconds at the US Championships. Hines then broke his own record shortly after while winning gold at the 1968 Olympics, where an electronic timer in Mexico City recorded him at 9.95. His record held for nearly 15 years until Calvin Smith ran a time of 9.93 in 1983.

That is the longest length of time an athlete has held the record for the men’s 100m since the International Amateur Athletic Foundation began keeping track – 110 years ago.

His death was announced in a statement by World Athletics. The organisation said it is “deeply saddened” by the news. Both the Olympics and USA Track and Field shared tributes to Hines on Twitter. “The sport has lost a legend,” USA Track and Field said.

Hines was born in the state of Arkansas in 1946 but was raised in Oakland, California.

He had an early love of sport, namely baseball, but showed a real talent for sprinting as a teenager. He attended Texas Southern University where he ran for the Tigers track team before competing in national championships and the Olympics.

In addition to winning the 100m at the Mexico Olympics, he was also part of the US 4x100m relay team which won a gold.

He ended his sprinting career shortly after the Olympics and joined the NFL. He spent three years in the league, playing for the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs.

(BBC Sports)

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Silverwood promises to address dot ball issue

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Rex Clementine
at Suriyawewa

Leading up to the World Cup Qualifiers starting in less than two weeks’ time in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka’s Head Coach Chris Silverwood promised to address the team’s dot-ball woes.

In the first ODI against Afghanistan which the hosts lost by six wickets here on Friday, there were 158 dot balls with the batters struggling to rotate the strike. That is a huge amount coming up to more than 25 overs. Although the number was cut down to 128 in the second game, Sri Lanka would like to do better than that.

“The dot ball issue is something that we are addressing. A lot of people are talking about it I know. We need to rotate the strike better and put the pressure back on the bowlers. The boundary percentage went up in the last game. Getting a balance between the two will help us to score above 300,” Silverwood told journalists.

Silverwood, the former England Head Coach, also welcomed the return of seniors Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne back into the side bringing more stability to the batting unit. Mathews was left out for game two, but that appears to be part of the team’s strategy to give everyone in the squad a go.

“Angelo was brought into the squad to boost the batting lineup and bring confidence into the side. He has experience of playing big matches. The fact is we must prepare the whole squad to cover ourselves to face any situation.

“Dimuth is making a comeback into the ODI side and he played superbly. He had a good Test series against Ireland. His tempo is very good. He gave us something to build on. The openers added 80 plus for the first wicket. Every partnership after that was scored at less than run a ball. It shows what we can do when we have a good start,” noted Silverwood.

Dhananjaya de Silva came up with a match-winning effort in the second game bowling his off-spin so well picking up three wickets that included the prize scalp of Ibrahim Zadran and earlier his less than run a ball 29 had helped Sri Lanka to a match-winning total of 323 for six.

“Dhananjaya is at six and has to adapt to situations whether it be setting a target or chasing one. The first game he played a superb inning. Today we saw him capitalizing after we had a great start. He kept the momentum going. Obviously scored quickly which is exactly what we need to get over 300. We want to keep pushing the barriers. When it comes to his bowling, he has been threatening to do it for a while.”

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Tharushi dazzles with two golds

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Sri Lanka’s mixed relay team with their medals. (from left) Jayeshi Uththara, Tharushi Karunaratne, Susantha Fernando (coach and manager), Shehan Dilranga and Vinod Ariyawansa.

Asian Junior Athletics Championship

by Reemus Fernando

Ratnayake Central, Walala runner Tharushi Karunaratne won back to back gold medals as Sri Lanka reaped a haul of three medals on day two of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in South Korea on Monday.

Karunaratne won the gold medal in the women’s 800 metres before running the vital anchor leg for her team to clinch gold ahead of strong Indian and hosts’ teams in the 4×400 metres mixed relay.

Gold medals Sri Lanka won yesterday were its eighth and ninth since the commencement of the biennial championship in 1986.

Competing in her pet event, Karunaratne was hardly challenged as she led from the first 100 metres to finish in a time of 2:05.64 seconds. Karunaratne, had set an Asian (junior) leading time just outside the current national record to earn her ticket to the event in South Korea. “I am really proud of her achievement. I was not expecting her to run close to her personal best as she had given her best in the 400 metres,” Susantha Fernando her coach told The Island after she clinched her first gold. She won the silver medal of the 400 metres on Sunday.

In the mixed relay she started in the third position but when the Indian counterpart who had won the gold in the 400 metres individual event tumbled at the start she grabbed the opportunity to fight for the first place and there was no turning back for her from there on. Jayeshi Uththara who won the 400 metres bronze, Shehan Dilranga and Vinod Ariyawansa were the others to form the mixed relay team.

She finished in a new Sri Lanka record time of 3:25.41 seconds. She was also a member of the team that had set the previous national record at the World Junior Championships. While the country’s senior athletes are yet to run the mixed relay at an international event, the junior athletes’ performances had been considered as National Records.

Kahawatta Central triple jumper Malith Yasiru was the other medallist of the day. Yasiru cleared 15.82 metres, seven centimeters shy of his personal best, to win the bronze ahead of India’s Sukhpreet Singh. Japan’s Miyao Manato who was the only athlete to clear the 16 metres mark (16.08m) and China’s Ma Yinglong (15.98m) won the gold and silver medals respectively.

With the two gold medals won yesterday the country has nine gold medals against her name at these championships now. Sri Lanka’s first gold medals of these championships were won by Damayathi Dharsha (100m) and Susanthika Jayasinghe (200m) in Jakarta Indonesia in 1994. The country had to wait till 2012 when it hosted the event in Colombo to witness the next gold. Dulaj Madusanka and Shivanthi Kumari Ratnayake won golds in the men’s and women’s 400 metres at the Sugathadasa Stadium while also anchoring the 4×400 metres relay teams to bronze and silver.

At the last edition in Gifu, Japan the country won three golds with Aruna Dharshana winning the men’s 400 metres with a championship record time of 45.79 seconds. Dharshana also ran a vital leg to win the 4×400 metres gold. The other gold came in the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase when Parami Wasanthi clocked a National Junior Record time of 10:21.54 seconds to win.

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