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Afghanistan name a strong squad to face Sri Lanka next month

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has banked more on spinners as they announced a full-strength squad for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka.
The three-match ODI series will take place at Hambantota in Sri Lanka on June 2, 4, and 7.
Left-handed batter Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead the 15-man squad that has four reserve players in it.
All-rounder Abdul Rahman has been recalled following his strong performances in the domestic circuit, while Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zia Ur Rahman Akbar, and Gulbadin Naib are among the reserves.
ACB chair Mirwais Ashraf reckoned the Sri Lanka tour will be a good preparation for the 2023 ODI World Cup. As quoted by the ICC, he said:
“It’s good to have a couple of young faces for the series; the build-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup has already begun, and we are looking for every possible opportunity to build a good combination of the team and prepare them well for the event.”
Afghanistan has already qualified for the 2023 World Cup after finishing seventh position in the recently completed ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League. The site also has ranked within 10 in the ICC ODI bowlers rankings, with Rashid Khan (sixth), Mujib ur Rahman (eighth) and Mohammad Nabi (10th) making up a formidable attack alongside left-arm seamer Fazhalhaq Farooqi and spinner Noor Ahmad.
Noor, part of the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023, has snared 11 scalps in eight games at 19.45 alongside an economy rate of 7.30. However, the 18-year-old has played only one ODI and as manyT20I after debuting in 2022.
Afghanistan’s squad to face Sri Lanka
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhail (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujib ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, and Farid Ahmad Malik.
Reserves: Gulbadin Naib, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, and Zia ur Rahman Akbar.
ඇෆ්ගනිස්තානය ලබන මාසයේදී ශ්රී ලංකාවට මුහුණ දීමට ශක්තිමත් සංචිතයක් නම් කරයි
ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථාන ක්රිකට් පාලක මණ්ඩලය (ACB) ශ්රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව එළඹෙන එක්දින තරඟාවලිය සඳහා පූර්ණ ප්රබල සංචිතයක් ප්රකාශයට පත් කිරීමත් සමඟ දඟපන්දු යවන්නන් සඳහා වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කර තිබේ.
තරග තුනකින් සමන්විත එක්දින තරගාවලිය ජුනි 2, 4 සහ 7 දිනවල ශ්රී ලංකාවේ හම්බන්තොටදී පැවැත්වේ.
සංචිත ක්රීඩකයින් 4 දෙනෙකුගෙන් සමන්විත 15 දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් සංචිතයට වමත් පිතිකරු හෂ්මතුල්ලා ෂාහිඩි නායකත්වය දෙනු ඇත.
තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩක අබ්දුල් රහ්මාන් දේශීය සංචිතයේ ඔහුගේ ප්රබල දස්කම් හේතුවෙන් නැවත කැඳවා ඇති අතර ෂහිදුල්ලා කමල්, යමින් අහමඩ්සායි, සියා උර් රහ්මාන් අක්බාර් සහ ගුල්බඩින් නයිබ් සංචිත අතර වේ.
ශ්රී ලංකා සංචාරය 2023 එක්දින ලෝක කුසලානයට හොඳ සූදානමක් වනු ඇතැයි ACB සභාපති Mirwais Ashraf ගණන් බලා ඇත. ICC විසින් උපුටා දක්වන ලද පරිදි ඔහු මෙසේ පැවසීය.
“මාලාව සඳහා තරුණ මුහුණු කිහිපයක් තිබීම සතුටක්; ICC ක්රිකට් ලෝක කුසලානය සඳහා ගොඩනැගීම දැනටමත් ආරම්භ වී ඇති අතර, කණ්ඩායමේ හොඳ සංයෝජනයක් ගොඩනැගීමට සහ ඔවුන්ව හොඳින් සූදානම් කිරීමට හැකි සෑම අවස්ථාවක්ම අපි සොයමින් සිටිමු. සිදුවීම.”
පසුගියදා නිමාවට පත් වූ ICC පිරිමි ක්රිකට් ලෝක කුසලාන සුපර් ලීග් තරඟාවලියේ හත්වන ස්ථානය ලබා ගනිමින් ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය දැනටමත් 2023 ලෝක කුසලාන තරඟාවලියට සුදුසුකම් ලබා ඇත. මෙම වෙබ් අඩවිය ICC ODI පන්දු යවන්නන් ශ්රේණිගත කිරීම්වල 10 වැනි ස්ථානයේ පසුවන අතර, රෂීඩ් ඛාන් (හයවන), මුජිබ් උර් රහ්මාන් (අටවන) සහ මොහොමඩ් නබි (10 වැනි) වමත් වේග පන්දු යවන ක්රීඩක ෆෂල්හක් ෆාරුකි සහ දඟ පන්දු යවන නූර් අහමඩ් සමඟින් ප්රබල ප්රහාරයක් එල්ල කරයි.
IPL 2023 හි ගුජරාට් ටයිටන්ස් හි කොටසක් වන නූර්, 7.30 ක ආර්ථික අනුපාතයක් සමඟින් 19.45 ට තරඟ අටකදී හිස් 11 ක් දවාගෙන ඇත. කෙසේ වෙතත්, 18 හැවිරිදි ඔහු ක්රීඩා කර ඇත්තේ 2022 දී මංගල දර්ශනයෙන් පසුව එක් එක්දින තරගයක් සහ විස්සයි20 තරඟ ගණනාවක් පමණි.
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhail (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujib ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, and Farid Ahmad Malik.
Reserves: Gulbadin Naib, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, and Zia ur Rahman Akbar.
அடுத்த மாதம் இலங்கையை எதிர்கொள்ள ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் வலுவான அணியை அறிவித்துள்ளது
ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் கிரிக்கெட் வாரியம் (ஏசிபி) சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர்கள் மீது அதிக கவனம் செலுத்தியுள்ளது, அவர்கள் இலங்கைக்கு எதிரான ஒருநாள் தொடருக்கான முழு வலிமை கொண்ட அணியை அறிவித்துள்ளனர்.
மூன்று போட்டிகள் கொண்ட ஒருநாள் தொடர் ஜூன் 2, 4, 7 ஆகிய தேதிகளில் இலங்கையின் ஹம்பாந்தோட்டாவில் நடைபெறுகிறது.
நான்கு ரிசர்வ் வீரர்களைக் கொண்ட 15 பேர் கொண்ட அணிக்கு இடது கை பேட்டர் ஹஷ்மத்துல்லா ஷாஹிடி தலைமை தாங்குவார்.
ஆல்-ரவுண்டர் அப்துல் ரஹ்மான் உள்நாட்டு சுற்றுகளில் அவரது வலுவான செயல்திறனைத் தொடர்ந்து திரும்ப அழைக்கப்பட்டார், அதே நேரத்தில் ஷாஹிதுல்லா கமால், யாமின் அஹ்மத்சாய், ஜியா உர் ரஹ்மான் அக்பர் மற்றும் குல்பாடின் நைப் ஆகியோர் இருப்புக்களில் உள்ளனர்.
ஏசிபி தலைவர் மிர்வைஸ் அஷ்ரஃப் இலங்கை சுற்றுப்பயணம் 2023 ஒருநாள் உலகக் கோப்பைக்கு ஒரு நல்ல தயாரிப்பாக இருக்கும் என்று கருதினார். ஐசிசி மேற்கோள் காட்டி அவர் கூறியதாவது:
“இந்தத் தொடருக்கு ஓரிரு இளம் முகங்கள் இருப்பது நல்லது; ஐசிசி கிரிக்கெட் உலகக் கோப்பைக்கான உருவாக்கம் ஏற்கனவே தொடங்கிவிட்டது, மேலும் அணியின் ஒரு நல்ல கலவையை உருவாக்குவதற்கும் அவர்களை நன்கு தயார்படுத்துவதற்கும் சாத்தியமான ஒவ்வொரு வாய்ப்பையும் நாங்கள் எதிர்பார்க்கிறோம். நிகழ்வு.”
சமீபத்தில் நிறைவடைந்த ஐசிசி ஆடவர் உலகக் கோப்பை சூப்பர் லீக்கில் ஏழாவது இடத்தைப் பிடித்த ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் ஏற்கனவே 2023 உலகக் கோப்பைக்கு தகுதி பெற்றுள்ளது. ICC ODI பந்துவீச்சாளர்கள் தரவரிசையில் இந்த தளம் 10 வது இடத்தில் உள்ளது, ரஷித் கான் (ஆறாவது), முஜிப் உர் ரஹ்மான் (எட்டாவது) மற்றும் முகமது நபி (10வது) ஆகியோர் இடது கை வேகப்பந்து வீச்சாளர் ஃபசல்ஹக் ஃபரூக்கி மற்றும் சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர் நூர் அஹ்மத் ஆகியோருடன் இணைந்து வலிமையான தாக்குதலை உருவாக்கியுள்ளனர்.
ஐபிஎல் 2023 இல் குஜராத் டைட்டன்ஸின் ஒரு பகுதியான நூர், எட்டு ஆட்டங்களில் 19.45 மணிக்கு 11 ஸ்கால்ப்களை 7.30 என்ற எகானமி ரேட்டுடன் சேர்த்து அடித்துள்ளார். இருப்பினும், 18 வயதான அவர் 2022 இல் அறிமுகமான பிறகு ஒரே ஒரு ODI மற்றும் பல T20I ஐ மட்டுமே விளையாடியுள்ளார்.
இலங்கையை எதிர்கொள்ளும் ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் அணி
ஹஷ்மத்துல்லா ஷாஹிடி (c), ரஹ்மத் ஷா (விசி), ரஹ்மானுல்லா குர்பாஸ் (விசி), இப்ராஹிம் சத்ரான், ரியாஸ் ஹசன், நஜிபுல்லா சத்ரான், முகமது நபி, இக்ரம் அலிகைல் (வாரம்), அஸ்மத்துல்லா உமர்சாய், ரஷித் கான், முஜிப் உர் ரஹ்மான், நோர் ரஹ்மான், நோர் ரஹ்மான், ஃபசல் ஹக் ஃபரூக்கி மற்றும் ஃபரித் அகமது மாலிக்.
இருப்பு: குல்பாடின் நைப், ஷாஹிதுல்லா கமால், யாமின் அஹ்மத்சாய் மற்றும் ஜியா உர் ரஹ்மான் அக்பர்.
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While FIFA continues to invest heavily in global football development through initiatives like Forward 3.0 and Football for Schools (F4S), the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) once again finds itself lagging behind—not because of lack of funding opportunities, but due to its own failures in administration, planning, and transparency.
Millions Left on the Table
FIFA’s Forward 3.0 programme offers USD 8 million per member association for the 2023–2026 cycle—an increase from previous cycles. These funds are specifically allocated for operational costs and football development projects, including infrastructure, national team support, grassroots leagues, and more.
Under Forward 3.0, FIFA allocates:
- USD 5 million for operational costs
- USD 3 million for infrastructure and development projects
Yet, as of April 2025, FFSL has failed to fully leverage these funds. Most notably, Sri Lanka missed out on FIFA’s Football for Schools initiative, which offers USD 50,000, training content, digital platforms, and Adidas footballs for schools. Since the programme began in 2019, over 100 nations have actively rolled it out. Sri Lanka is not one of them.
Lack of Vision or Lack of Will?
Despite FIFA’s clear roadmap and generous funding, FFSL’s inability to fulfill the conditions required—such as active domestic leagues, functional youth structures, and proper digital systems—has blocked their eligibility for key fund releases.
The federation’s operations are also marred by repeated promises and half-baked publicity stunts. Take for example the international stadium project, which was announced multiple times across various locations—Port City, Negombo, and most recently Colombo—but not a single brick has been laid. These announcements appear to be more about media optics than serious project planning or execution.
Global Benchmark: A Stark Contrast
While other nations are making strides in football development using FIFA funds—as showcased in FIFA’s Member Associations in Focus – January 2025 (link)—Sri Lanka continues to fall behind. Countries like India, Nepal, and the Maldives have successfully hosted international matches, built infrastructure, and even expanded their youth programmes using Forward funding.
Meanwhile, FFSL’s financial practices continue to raise questions. A lack of clear audits, poorly executed projects, and insufficient stakeholder engagement have painted a picture of administrative incompetence.
Time for Accountability
As Sri Lanka’s football stagnates while the rest of Asia pushes forward, fans and stakeholders must demand greater transparency, professionalism, and action. It’s time the FFSL stopped making headlines and started building foundations—literally and metaphorically—for the future of football in the country.
Athletics
Sri Lanka Secures Three Medals at Asian U18 Athletics Championships – Day 3 Highlights
Dammam, Saudi Arabia – April 17
The third day of the 6th Asian U18 Athletics Championships in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, delivered a vibrant mix of speed, strength, and rising talent from across the continent. Set against the backdrop of Prince Nayef Sports City, over 400 athletes representing 31 nations competed with passion and purpose. Among them, Sri Lanka earned three spots on the podium with standout performances in track and field.
🌟 Sewmini Fernando was the star on the track, sprinting to silver in the Girls’ 100m final. Clocking an impressive 11.92 seconds, she finished just behind China’s Zhang Qian, in what was one of the evening’s most closely watched races. Her performance not only demonstrated raw speed but also Sri Lanka’s growing potential in sprint events on the Asian stage.
🥉 Meanwhile, in the Boys’ 1500m final, Lahiru Achintha displayed excellent race awareness and endurance, finishing in third place with a time of 3:59.47. His tactical approach and strong finish earned Sri Lanka a bronze medal, making him one of the standout middle-distance performers of the day.
🏅 In addition to these podium finishes, Janith Lakshan Jenkins leapt into medal contention in the Men’s U18 Triple Jump, claiming silver with a mark of 15.10 meters, just behind China’s Dong Zhiyuan.
Though only three athletes officially medaled on Day 3, performances across the board showed promise, heart, and competitive spirit — vital traits for building a strong future in athletics.
Stay tuned as Team Sri Lanka continues to compete and inspire at this prestigious youth championship.
🟡 Sri Lanka’s Medal Count – Day 3
🥈 Sewmini Fernando – Girls’ 100m
🥈 Janith Lakshan Jenkins – Boys’ Triple Jump
🥉 Lahiru Achintha – Boys’ 1500m
#SriLankaAthletics #AsianU18 #SewminiFernando #LakshanJenkins #LahiruAchintha #SriLankanYouth #Dammam2025 #TrackAndField #SriLankanSportsTV #PrideOfTheNation
News
Sri Lanka Names 25-Man Squad for Crucial Rugby Clash Against Malaysia
Sri Lanka Rugby has officially received the Sports Minister’s approval for a 25-member national squad, led by seasoned campaigner Nigel Ratwatte, ahead of the high-stakes playoff match against Malaysia. The game will determine qualification for the Asia Rugby Top 4 Championship, a key milestone in Sri Lanka’s bid for a spot at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
The match, scheduled for April 19, is expected to be a fierce contest as the Tuskers aim to re-establish themselves among Asia’s rugby elite. A win would secure home games against South Korea and UAE, with the away fixture coming against Hong Kong.
The squad features a mix of experienced players and promising young talent, showing the depth of Sri Lanka’s rugby potential. Backline firepower includes Danushka Ranjan, Akash Madhushanka, and Janidu Dilshan, while the forward pack boasts names like Janidu Fernando, Pulasthi Dissanayake, and Lasindu Karunathilake.
Approved Squad for Malaysia Match
Forwards:
- Janidu Fernando
- Pulasthi Dissanayake
- Senura Perera
- Naveen Marasinghe
- Thilina Bandara
- Nizran Nillar
- Tharindu Chathuranga
- Lasindu Karunathilake
Backs:
- Heshan Jansen
- Nigel Ratwatte (Captain)
- Janidu Dilshan
- Akash Madhushanka
- Danushka Ranjan
- Dinal Ekanayake
- Mursheed Zubair
Finishers (Replacements):
- Vimukthi Gamage
- Nirosh Perera
- Mohamed Rifan
- Thenuka Nanayakkara
- Pasindu Bandara
- Thanuja Jayaweera
- Dahan Wickramarachchi
- Venura Kodagoda
Standby:
- Malitha Wijesundara
- Hirantha Perera
Team Management & Support Staff
- Chef De Mission: Udaya Hettiarachchi
- Team Manager: Rohan Chinthaka
- Head Coach: Sanath Martis
- Forwards Coach: Dushanth Lewke
- Backs Coach: Saliya Kumara
- Strength & Conditioning Coach: Tharaka Algama
- Team Doctor: Dr. Pradeep Kiriella
- Physiotherapist: Shafin Majeed
- Masseurs: Manoj Silva, Sanka Dilshan de Silva, L. P. P. Sameera
With preparations intensifying, the squad is in full training mode under the guidance of Sanath Martis and his coaching unit. The players are eyeing a return to the continental spotlight, and the nation will be rallying behind the boys in maroon as they take on Malaysia in this do-or-die battle.
Stay tuned to Sri Lankan Sports TV for full match coverage and updates.
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