News
Another investigation against Chamika Karunaratne
Sri Lankan all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne has been ordered to conduct an investigation once again by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe after a letter written about the player’s behaviour during the T20 World Cup tournament held in Australia last month was made public.
Karunaratne was banned for one year and fined US$5000 by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after Sri Lanka Cricket’s own investigation but asked the Sports Minister to explain his exclusion from the Afghanistan series.
“At the end of Australia’s World Cup tour, I had a discussion with the national coach regarding tour options for Sri Lanka’s tour of Afghanistan. As names were called, Chamika’s name was discussed in detail and the discussion about Chamika’s selection resulted in Chamika’s removal from the tour as the national coach lost faith in him as his coach was exposed as untruthful. On several occasions. “The coach was of the opinion that Chamika was not focused on his game,” Wickramasinghe wrote.
“Even during the T20 World Cup in Australia I observed Chamik very closely, my observation was that wherever we went in the interior he was more focused on meeting women of Sri Lankan origin residing in Australia. Also, I would like to note that he has missed several training sessions on the tour citing feeling ill, however, I have reason to believe that he has been staying with female companions at the hotel. (I would suggest requesting the hotel to provide CCTV footage on the days he is absent from training sessions.)
“It was revealed that his focus was not on cricket and this may have been a major reason why he was not able to perform as expected by the team management. I had a conference call with my fellow selection committee officials mentioning the above events. venue and we have decided to drop him from the tour of Afghanistan to ensure he recovers and focuses on taking his cricket seriously,” the chief selectors also wrote in their letter.
The chief selectors also suggested that the player be given psychological counselling before being considered for international cricket again.
චාමික කරුණාරත්නට එරෙහිව යළිත් වරක් පරීක්ෂණයක්
ශ්රී ලංකා තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩක චාමික කරුණාරත්න පසුගිය මාසයේ ඔස්ට්රේලියාවේ පැවති T20 ලෝක කුසලාන තරඟාවලියේදී ජාතික කණ්ඩායම සමඟ තරඟ සංචාරයක නිරතව සිටියදී ක්රීඩකයාගේ හැසිරීම පිළිබඳව ලියා තිබූ ලිපියක් ප්රසිද්ධියේ පිටවීමත් සමඟ මෙවර ක්රීඩා අමාත්ය රොෂාන් රණසිංහගෙන් යළිත් වරක් පරීක්ෂණයක් පැවැත්වීමට නියෝග කර ඇත.
ශ්රී ලංකා ක්රිකට් ආයතනය විසින්ම පරීක්ෂණයක් සිදු කිරීමෙන් පසු කරුණාරත්නට ශ්රී ලංකා ක්රිකට් (SLC) විසින් වසරක තහනමක් සහ ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් 5000 ක දඩයක් නියම කළ නමුත් ඔහු ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථාන තරඟාවලියෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම ක්රීඩා අමාත්යවරයාට පැහැදිලි කිරීමක් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.
“ඕස්ට්රේලියානු ලෝක කුසලාන තරග සංචාරය අවසානයේදී මම ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානයේ ශ්රී ලංකා සංචාරය සඳහා සංචාර තේරීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජාතික පුහුණුකරු සමඟ සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවැත්වූවා. නම් කතා කරද්දී චාමිකගේ නම විස්තරාත්මකව කතාබහට ලක්වූ අතර චාමිකගේ තේරීම පිළිබඳ සාකච්ඡාවේ ප්රතිඵලය වූයේ චාමික පුහුණුකරුට සත්යවාදී නොවීම හෙළිවීම නිසා ජාතික පුහුණුකරුට ඔහු කෙරෙහි විශ්වාසයක් නැතිවී ඇති නිසා ඔහුව මෙම සංචාරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමයි. අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදී. චාමික ඔහුගේ ක්රීඩාව කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු නොකළ බව පුහුණුකරුගේ මතය විය,” වික්රමසිංහ ලිවීය.
“ඕස්ට්රේලියාවේ පැවති T20 ලෝක කුසලානය අතරතුර පවා මම චාමිකව ඉතා සමීපව නිරීක්ෂණය කළෙමි, මගේ නිරීක්ෂණය වූයේ අප අභ්යන්තරයේ කොතැනක ගියත් ඔහු ඕස්ට්රේලියාවේ පදිංචිව සිටින ශ්රී ලාංකික සම්භවයක් ඇති කාන්තාවන් හමුවීමට වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කළ බවයි. තවද, ඔහුට අසනීප බවක් දැනෙන බව සඳහන් කරමින් ඔහුට සංචාරයේ පුහුණු සැසි කිහිපයක් මග හැරී ඇති බව සටහන් කිරීමට මම කැමැත්තෙමි, කෙසේ වෙතත් ඔහු හෝටලයේ කාන්තා සහකාරියන්ට නවාතැන් ගෙන ඇති බව විශ්වාස කිරීමට මට හේතුවක් තිබේ. (ඔහු පුහුණු සැසිවලට නොපැමිණි දිනවලදී CCTV දර්ශන ලබා දෙන ලෙස හෝටලයට ඉල්ලීමක් කරන ලෙස මම යෝජනා කරමි.)
“ඔහුගේ අවධානය ක්රිකට් වෙත යොමු නොවූ බවත් කණ්ඩායම් කළමනාකාරිත්වය බලාපොරොත්තු වන අයුරින් ඔහුට ක්රීඩා කිරීමට නොහැකි වීමට මෙය ප්රධාන හේතුවක් වන්නට ඇති බවත් අනාවරණය විය. ඉහත සිදුවීම් සඳහන් කරමින් මම මගේ සෙසු තේරීම් කමිටු නිලධාරීන් සමඟ සම්මන්ත්රණ ඇමතුමක් ලබා ගත්තෙමි. ස්ථානය සහ අපි ඔහුව ඇෆ්ගනිස්තාන සංචාරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට තීරණය කළේ ඔහු තම ක්රිකට් බැරෑරුම් ලෙස සැලකීමට අවධානය යොමු කර යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් කිරීමට වග බලා ගැනීම සඳහාය”, ප්රධාන තේරීම් කමිටුව ද සිය ලිපියේ ලියා ඇත.
නැවත ජාත්යන්තර ක්රිකට් සඳහා සලකා බැලීමට පෙර ක්රීඩකයාට මනෝවිද්යාත්මක උපදේශනයක් ලබා දෙන ලෙසද ප්රධාන තේරීම් කමිටුව යෝජනා කළේය.
சாமிக்க கருணாரத்னவுக்கு எதிராக மற்றுமொரு விசாரணை!
கடந்த மாதம் அவுஸ்திரேலியாவில் நடைபெற்ற டி20 உலகக் கிண்ணப் போட்டியின் போது குறித்த வீரரின் நடத்தை தொடர்பில் இலங்கை அணியின் சகலதுறை ஆட்டக்காரர் சாமிக கருணாரத்ன, விளையாட்டுத்துறை அமைச்சர் ரொஷான் ரணசிங்க எழுதிய கடிதம் பகிரங்கப்படுத்தப்பட்டதையடுத்து, அவரிடம் மீண்டும் விசாரணை நடத்த உத்தரவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.
ஸ்ரீலங்கா கிரிக்கெட்டின் சொந்த விசாரணையின் பின்னர் கருணாரத்னேவுக்கு ஸ்ரீலங்கா கிரிக்கெட் (SLC) ஒரு வருட தடை மற்றும் US$5000 அபராதம் விதித்தது, ஆனால் அவர் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் தொடரில் இருந்து விலக்கப்பட்டதற்கு விளையாட்டுத்துறை அமைச்சரிடம் விளக்கம் கேட்டார்.
“ஆஸ்திரேலியாவின் உலகக் கோப்பை சுற்றுப்பயணத்தின் முடிவில், இலங்கையின் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் சுற்றுப்பயணத்திற்கான சுற்றுப்பயண விருப்பங்கள் குறித்து தேசிய பயிற்சியாளருடன் கலந்துரையாடினேன். பெயர்கள் அழைக்கப்பட்டதால், சாமிக்காவின் பெயர் விரிவாக விவாதிக்கப்பட்டது மற்றும் சமிக்காவின் தேர்வு பற்றிய விவாதம், அவரது பயிற்சியாளர் பொய்யானது என அம்பலப்படுத்தப்பட்டதால், தேசிய பயிற்சியாளர் அவர் மீதான நம்பிக்கையை இழந்ததால், சமிகா சுற்றுப்பயணத்திலிருந்து நீக்கப்பட்டார். பல சந்தர்ப்பங்களில். “சாமிகா தனது விளையாட்டில் கவனம் செலுத்தவில்லை என்று பயிற்சியாளர் கருதினார்” என்று விக்கிரமசிங்க எழுதினார்.
“அவுஸ்திரேலியாவில் நடைபெற்ற டி20 உலகக் கிண்ணத்தின் போது கூட நான் சாமிக்கை மிகவும் உன்னிப்பாக அவதானித்தேன், எனது அவதானிப்பு என்னவென்றால், நாங்கள் உள்நாட்டில் எங்கு சென்றாலும் அவர் ஆஸ்திரேலியாவில் வசிக்கும் இலங்கை வம்சாவளியைச் சேர்ந்த பெண்களைச் சந்திப்பதில் அதிக கவனம் செலுத்தினார். மேலும், அவர் உடல்நிலை சரியில்லாமல் இருப்பதாகக் கூறி சுற்றுப்பயணத்தில் பல பயிற்சி அமர்வுகளை தவறவிட்டார் என்பதை நான் கவனிக்க விரும்புகிறேன், இருப்பினும் அவர் ஹோட்டலில் பெண் தோழர்களுடன் தங்கியிருக்கிறார் என்று நான் நம்புவதற்கு காரணம் உள்ளது. (அவர் பயிற்சி அமர்வுகளில் இல்லாத நாட்களில் சிசிடிவி காட்சிகளை வழங்க ஹோட்டலைக் கோருமாறு நான் பரிந்துரைக்கிறேன்.)
“அவரது கவனம் கிரிக்கெட்டில் இல்லை என்பதும், அணி நிர்வாகம் எதிர்பார்த்தபடி அவரால் செயல்பட முடியாமல் போனதற்கு இது ஒரு முக்கிய காரணமாக இருக்கலாம் என்பதும் தெரியவந்தது. மேற்கண்ட நிகழ்வுகளைக் குறிப்பிட்டு எனது சக தேர்வுக் குழு அதிகாரிகளுடன் ஒரு மாநாட்டு அழைப்பை மேற்கொண்டேன். அவர் குணமடைந்து அவரது கிரிக்கெட்டை தீவிரமாக எடுத்துக்கொள்வதில் கவனம் செலுத்துவதை உறுதி செய்வதற்காக ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் சுற்றுப்பயணத்தில் இருந்து அவரை கைவிட முடிவு செய்துள்ளோம்” என்று தலைமை தேர்வாளர்கள் தங்கள் கடிதத்தில் எழுதினர்.
மீண்டும் சர்வதேச கிரிக்கெட்டுக்கு பரிசீலிக்கப்படுவதற்கு முன், வீரருக்கு உளவியல் ஆலோசனை வழங்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்றும் தலைமை தேர்வாளர்கள் பரிந்துரைத்தனர்.
News
Greek Coach Petros Appointed Head Coach of Sri Lanka National Volleyball Team
The Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation has ushered in a new era for the sport by appointing Greek coach Petroglou Petros as Head Coach of the National Volleyball Team. His arrival signals a strategic push to elevate Sri Lanka’s standing on the international stage and to modernize the country’s approach to training and player development.
Petros, a Level 3 international coach with a wealth of experience across Europe, the Gulf region, and South Asia, touched down in Colombo yesterday. He was welcomed at Bandaranaike International Airport by Federation Vice President Commander Mahesh Kariyawasam, underscoring the importance placed on his appointment.
Known for introducing structured development systems and modern training techniques, Petros has worked extensively with both junior and senior squads. Officials believe his expertise will not only strengthen the national team’s competitiveness but also create a clear pathway for emerging talent to progress into the senior ranks.
The Federation views this appointment as a turning point, aiming to blend international coaching standards with Sri Lanka’s homegrown talent. With Petros at the helm, expectations are high that the national team will embrace a more disciplined, scientific, and globally aligned approach to the game.
Cricket
Coaching Restructure Signals New Era for Sri Lanka Cricket
Sri Lanka Cricket has announced a sweeping revamp of its High Performance Centre coaching framework, aiming to strengthen player development after the national team’s disappointing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign.
The restructuring follows recommendations from the Executive Committee and marks a significant shift in the way coaching resources are deployed. Just days after Sanath Jayasuriya stepped down as Head Coach, former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten was appointed on a two-year contract beginning mid-April. Kirsten is expected to bring in his own specialists in spin, fast bowling, and fielding, leading to several reassignments within the HPC and domestic structures.
Julian Wood, hired last October as a power-hitting specialist, now serves as HPC Power Hitting Coach across all squads, including women’s cricket. Rene Ferdinands, a biomechanics expert and former national spin bowling coach, has transitioned to HPC Spin Bowling Coach with a focus on scientific aspects of bowling. Meanwhile, Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby, and Ravindra Pushpakumara have been moved into the domestic coaching structure of the National Super League, Major Clubs, and Division I schools. One of the most debated decisions is the reassignment of Avishka Gunawardena from Sri Lanka ‘A’ Head Coach to the U-19 team. Gunawardena, known for discipline and modern techniques, had overseen consistent performances with the ‘A’ team. His replacement, Ashan Priyanjan, is a recently retired cricketer with limited coaching experience, raising questions about the rationale behind the appointment.
The new framework places Gary Kirsten at the helm of the national team, with support staff to be appointed. Ashan Priyanjan takes charge of the ‘A’ team as Head Coach and Batting Coach, assisted by Chamara Silva, Anusha Samaranayake, Rumesh Ratnayake, Sachith Pathirana, Manoj Abeywickrama, and Upul Chandana. The Emerging Team will have coaches appointed on assignment basis, with Saman Jayantha, Dammika Sudarshana, Darshana Gamage, and Piyal Wijetunga handling batting, fast bowling, and spin, while fielding is managed by HPC pool coaches.
The U-19 team is now led by Avishka Gunawardena, supported by Omesh Wijesiriwardena and Dilruwn Perera, with fielding again overseen by HPC specialists. Julian Wood and Rene Ferdinands continue as HPC Power Hitting and Spin Bowling Coaches respectively, while Mubarak, Kandamby, and Pushpakumara contribute to domestic structures.
On the women’s side, Jamie Siddons remains Head Coach of the national team, assisted by Sumithra Warnakulasuriya, Dumida Perera, Chamila Gamage, Sajeewa Weerakoon, and Kaman Mapatuna. The Women’s ‘A’ team is led by Sampath Perera, with Gayan Wijekoon, Vimukthi Deshapriya, and Sajeewa Weerakoon in supporting roles. The Women’s U-19 team is headed by Mahesh Weerasinghe, with Ruvin Peiris, Chamila Gamage, Sajeewa Weerakoon, and Anton Costa completing the staff. This comprehensive restructuring signals SLC’s intent to build a stronger pipeline of talent, blending international expertise with domestic development, as the country looks ahead to future international competitions.
Cricket
Hyderabad Kingsmen Eye Maheesh Theekshana as Baartman’s Replacement
Hyderabad Kingsmen, one of the two debutant franchises in the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) season, are exploring options to fill the void left by South African pacer Ottniel Baartman. The 11th edition of the PSL is set to run from March 26 to May 3.
According to sources, the Kingsmen have approached Sri Lankan mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana to join their squad. His availability, however, hinges on securing a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

Baartman, who was picked during the historic inaugural PSL auction at Lahore’s Expo Centre on February 11 for PKR 1.1 crore, has withdrawn from the tournament. Neither the player nor the franchise has disclosed the reason for his absence.
Theekshana, meanwhile, offers proven pedigree in the shortest format. The 23-year-old has already represented Sri Lanka in 83 T20Is, bagging 82 wickets at an economy rate of 7.08. His franchise résumé is equally impressive, with stints in the IPL, SA20, ILT20, CPL, and LPL, making him a sought-after asset in global T20 leagues.
The PSL’s landmark 11th edition will feature eight teams, including new entrants Hyderabad Kingsmen and Rawalpindi, battling across 44 matches in 39 days. In a significant shift, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has streamlined the tournament logistics, announcing that all fixtures will be staged in Karachi and Lahore behind closed doors.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi confirmed the revised plans after consultations with franchise owners and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Patron-in-Chief of the league. Initially, six cities—Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Lahore—were under consideration as hosts, but the board opted for consolidation to ensure smooth operations.
With Baartman’s exit and Theekshana’s potential arrival, Hyderabad Kingsmen’s debut campaign promises intrigue, as the franchise looks to make its mark in Pakistan’s premier T20 competition.
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