Sports
Payment of Rs 750,000 to chairman of football election committee probed by COPE
The COPE Committee held yesterday (03) directed their special attention towards the payment of Rs. 750,000 to the Chairman of the Elections Committee for the conduct of football elections and the grant of approval for the payment of Rs. 60,000 to its other members.
Given that no official stated that this was paid at the COPE Committee meeting held on the 22nd of April 2021, the COPE Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath stated that it is suspicious to now state that it was paid on the 20th of April.
The Chair recalled that the COPE Committee had also issued a recommendation to investigate on the mater and take steps to formalize the methodology.
The Committee directed Anuradha Wijekoon, Secretary to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to conduct an internal investigation and submit a report to the Committee within two weeks.
The Committee also paid special attention to the misappropriation of finances by the former President of the Football Federation Mr. Manilal Fernando of 40,400 (Rs.6,287,670) euros donated by the Italian Football Association for the construction of the Kalutara Football Stadium, $ 60,000 (Rs.6,415,290) granted to hold matches by the Asian Football Confederation, A sum of Rs. 10 million provided by a private company for the construction of 20 houses for the tsunami victims and $ 200,000 donated by the Asian Football Confederation.
The Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Charitha Herath, also directed the Secretary to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to conduct an internal investigation into the incident and submit a report to the COPE Committee as soon as possible.
The COPE Committee expressed their displeasure for not recovering Rs. 46,860,672 obtained by the former finance manager of the Football Federation entering fake names as match referees which was revealed in August 2020. The Chairman of the Committee further recommended that the Secretary to the Ministry of Youth and Sports look into this matter and inform the Committee immediately.
It was revealed at the COPE Committee meeting that the total amount of advances given by the Federation to the tournament organizers for sports competitions and sports conferences but not settled was Rs. 2,252,067 in 2018 and Rs. 1,465,997 in 2019.
Also, the COPE Committee informed the Football Federation of Sri Lanka to amend the constitution of the Football Federation as soon as possible.
The Chairman of the Committee Prof. Charitha Herath further stated that the term of office of the office bearers of the Federation should be increased from 01 year to 04 years through these amendments.
The committee pointed out that although 10 members were elected to the executive council of the Football Federation, the chairman appoints 18 other members which is problematic.
The Committee further recommended that the 18 vacancies at present be left vacant until the Constitution of the Football Federation is amended.
The Committee also questioned the Football Federation on their failure to submit an action plan from 2017 to 2020 for approval of the Executive Committee.
Hon. Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena and Hon. State Minister Indika Anuruddha and Hon. Members of Parliament Rauf Hakeem, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Jagath Pushpakumara, Eran Wickramaratne, Premnath C. Dolawatte, B.Y.G Ratnasekera, S.M. Rasamanickam, Mr. Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of the Department of Sports Development, Mr. Jaswar Umar President of the Sri Lanka Football Federation along with other officials of the Football Federation were present at the meeting.
North Korea has held the Pyongyang International Marathon for the first time in six years, welcoming some 200 foreign runners to the streets of the reclusive country’s capital.
The marathon, which was launched in 1981, took place annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founding leader Kim Il Sung.
Before Sunday’s marathon, the race was last held in 2019, wherein 950 foreigners participated. North Korea sealed itself off the following year, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
North Korea has been slow to reopen since, allowing only Russian tourists into its capital since last year.
Runners have had to enter the country as part of an organised tour group, as was the case before the pandemic.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel agency listed as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six-day marathon tours at 2,195 euros ($2,406) including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
Sunday’s marathon route took participants past landmarks across the city, including the Kim Il Sung stadium, the Arch of Triumph built to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s role in resisting Japanese rule, and the Mirae Future Scientists’ Street said to be a residential district for scientists and engineers.
Pictures online show the stadium – where runners start and finish their race – filled with spectators, many of them cheering and waving gold-coloured paper flags.
Pak Kum Dong, a North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties whenever I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on race results.
North Korea had only statred to scale back Covid-19 restrictions in the middle of 2023.
In Feburary, it allowed some Western tourists into the remote, eastern city Rason, but suspended those tours just weeks after.
[BBC]
Noor Ahmad, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) left-arm wristspinner, continues to head the Purple Cap table with ten wickets from four games. His spell of 4 for 18 in CSK’s first game against MI, remains his best so far.
DC’s Mitchell Starc who picked up his maiden five-for in T20s, against SRH remains second on the list with nine wickets in three games.
GT’s Mohammed Siraj equalled Starc’s tally on Sunday night with his own IPL best, albeit he has played four games to Starc’s three. Siraj picked up 4 for 17 against SRH to hand them their four successive loss, and was named the Player of the Match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025. Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.
Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.
Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.
Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.
Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.
With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21
Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.
That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.
It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.
Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.
Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.
Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar 49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
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