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Ashen edged Thehan in a blockbuster men’s finals at the 108th Colombo Tennis Championship
Ashen Silva edged top seed Thehan Wijemanne in a thrilling five-setter (5/7, 6/4, 3/6, 6/2, 6/3) in the finals of the 108th Colombo Tennis Championship (men’s category) which went to the wire at SLTA Clay courts on Sunday.
It was a heated clash between Thehan and Ashen where the latter set the tone from the get-go to frustrate his opponent in the early exchanges. He continued to go for his shots from the outset, in addition to effectively employing the drop shot, which drew repeated errors from his opponent to wrap up the first set 5-7.
In the second set things were much more competitive when Ashen showed his infamous never-say-die spirit to give Thehan some anxious moments as he won the second set 6-4.
With both at 1-1, the third set was a highly intense game where Thehan’s experience came into play as he out-manoeuvred Ashen to win set 3-6 and take a 2-1 lead.
Coming into the fourth set it was all about Ashen who played aggressively to put constant pressure on his opponent whose frustration began to show early in the fourth set as he was carted all over the place. After a ding-dong battle, Ashen walked out with 6-2 to make things level.
Heading into the decider Ashen showed his never give up attitude dominated right from the start of the fifth set to eventually wrap up the match after winning the fifth and deciding set by 6-3.
Meanwhile, in the women’s open category Saajida Razick, a product of Bishops College outplayed Dinara de Silva to lift the Women’s Open title at the 108th Colombo Championships played at Sri Lanka Tennis Association Courts.
Saajida dominated Dinara de Silva in a three-setter (6-4, 3-6., 6-1) to crown as women’s Champion.
108 වැනි කොළඹ ටෙනිස් ශූරතාවලියේ පිරිමි අවසන් මහා තරගයේදී අශේන් තෙහාන් ජය ගනී.
ඉරිදා SLTA Clay courts එකේ පැවති 108 වැනි කොළඹ ටෙනිස් ශූරතාවලියේ (පිරිමි අංශයේ) අවසන් මහා තරගයේදී අශේන් සිල්වා පළමු ශ්‍රේණිගත ක්‍රීඩක තෙහාන් විජේමාන්න ලකුණු 5කින් (5/7, 6/4, 3/6, 6/2, 6/3) අභිබවා ගියේය.
එය තෙහාන් සහ අශේන් අතර උණුසුම් ගැටුමක් වූ අතර එහිදී තෙහාන් මුල් හුවමාරු වලදී තම ප්‍රතිවාදියා තම අණසකට යටත්ව ක්‍රීඩා කිරීමට සකස් කළේය. ඔහු ඩ්‍රොප් ෂොට් එක ඵලදායි ලෙස යොදා ගැනීමට අමතරව, ආරම්භයේ සිටම ඔහුගේ පහරවල් සඳහා දිගටම යොමු වූ අතර, එය ප්‍රතිවාදියාගෙන් නැවත නැවතත් වැරදි සිදු කරමින් පළමු වටය 5-7ක් ලෙස අවසන් කළේය.
දෙවැනි වටයේ දී දේවල් වඩාත් තරගකාරී වූයේ අශේන් දෙවැනි වටය 6-4ක් ලෙස ජයගත් තෙහාන්ට කනස්සල්ලට පත් වූ අවස්ථා කිහිපයක් ලබා දීමටය.
දෙකම 1-1ක් ලෙස තිබියදී, තෙහාන්ගේ අත්දැකීම් ඉතා තියුණු තරගයක් වූ අතර, ඔහු අශේන් අභිබවා ගොස් 3-6ක් ලෙස 3-6ක් ජයගෙන 2-1ක් ලෙස පෙරමුණ ගත්තේය.
සිවුවැනි වටයට පිවිසීමේදී සියල්ලටම වඩා ආක්‍රමණශීලී ලෙස ක්‍රීඩා කළ අශේන් තම ප්‍රතිවාදියාට නිරන්තර පීඩනයක් එල්ල කළ අතර ඔහුගේ කලකිරීම සිවුවැනි වටයේ ආරම්භයේදීම පෙන්නුම් කිරීමට පටන් ගත් අතර ඔහු සෑම තැනකම කරට කර ගෙන ගියේය. තියුණු සටනකින් පසු, අශේන් 6-2 ක් සමඟින් ඉවත්ව ගියේ ජය ලබාගැනීමත් සමඟය.
තීරකයට පිවිසි අශේන් පස්වැනි කට්ටලය ආරම්භයේ සිටම ආධිපත්‍යය දැරූ කිසිවිටෙකත් අත් නොහරින ආකල්පය පෙන්නුම් කළේ අවසානයේ පස්වැනි තරගය ජයගෙන 6-3කින් වටය තීරණය කිරීමෙන් පසුව තරගය අවසන් කිරීමටය.
මේ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ටෙනිස් සංගම් පිටියේ පැවැති 108 වැනි කොළඹ ශූරතාවලියේ විවෘත කාන්තා අංශයේ කාන්තා අංශයේ සජිදා රාසික්, දිනාරා ද සිල්වා අභිබවා කාන්තා විවෘත ශූරතාව දිනා ගැනීමට සමත් වූවාය.
කාන්තා ශූරිය ලෙස කිරුළ හිමිකර ගැනීමට සාජිදා දිනාරා ද සිල්වාට එරෙහිව තරග තුනකින් (6-4, 3-6., 6-1) ආධිපත්‍යය දැරීය.
Football fever returns as Stafford International School and Colombo International School gear up for the second edition of their highly anticipated Big Match! This year, the rivalry intensifies with four matches across different age and gender categories:
✅ U15 Girls
✅ U15 Boys
✅ U20 Girls
✅ U20 Boys
🏆 Stafford International’s Rising Stars:
- U15 Girls: Defending TISSL U14 and Colombo SLSFA District champions, featuring standout players like Keshalee Ranatunga and Sonja Ratanayake (just 10 years old!).
- U15 Boys: All-Island U14 runners-up out of 462 schools, led by goalkeeper Yash Amarasekara, who was named Best U14 GK in Sri Lanka.
- U20 Girls & Boys: Both teams finished as TISSL runners-up, boasting stars like Raya Rikaz, Yumna Safraz, Adnaan Ameen, and Nidurshan Mohan.
🏆 Colombo International’s Key Players:
- U15 Girls: TISSL U16 runners-up, featuring top defender Khadeeja Niyas and striker Ozra.
- U20 Girls: TISSL U20 runners-up, with Fioni Dedhia named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
- U20 Boys: Defending Big Match champions, looking to retain their title behind stars like Krishwen and Habib.
👀 Who will come out on top this time? Watch the action LIVE at the link below! 🎥👇
#BigMatch2025 #SchoolFootball #SriLankaFootball #StaffordVsCIS #RivalryRenewed
Shammi Silva has been re-elected as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president for the 2025-27 term, marking his fourth consecutive tenure at the helm of the nation’s cricket governing body. Silva secured the position uncontested at the 64th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Colombo on Monday.
A Controversial Yet Dominant Tenure
Silva’s leadership has not been without controversy. His previous term saw a high-profile clash with former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in 2023, which led to an interim committee being appointed after Sri Lanka’s poor performance in the ICC ODI World Cup. This move resulted in ICC suspending SLC, which led to Sri Lanka losing the hosting rights for the U19 Men’s World Cup, which was later held in South Africa.
Despite these setbacks, Silva regained control after a court ruling reinstated his administration, and he was later appointed as the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in December 2023, replacing Jay Shah.
Challenges & Future Outlook
Sri Lanka Cricket has long been seen as a powerful and influential body, with internal politics often shaping its leadership. With financial mismanagement concerns highlighted in the Auditor General’s report, Silva’s administration faces the challenge of restoring credibility and ensuring better governance.
With the ICC ban lifted, Sri Lanka looks to rebuild its cricketing structure and improve performance on the international stage. The focus now shifts to upcoming bilateral series, the Asia Cup, and preparations for the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Stay tuned for more updates on Sri Lanka Cricket and the latest in the world of sports!
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming has defended MS Dhoni’s late entry in the batting order, stating that the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman cannot play an extended innings at full intensity due to lingering knee concerns.
The 43-year-old Dhoni faced criticism after coming in at No. 9 during CSK’s 50-run loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Chepauk. In the next match against Rajasthan Royals on March 30, 2025, he batted at No. 7 when CSK required 54 off 25 balls but managed just 16 off 11 as his team fell short by six runs.
Fleming’s Explanation on Dhoni’s Role
Fleming emphasized that Dhoni carefully assesses the match situation before deciding when to bat.
“It’s all about timing. MS judges his body and situation. His knees aren’t what they used to be, so he can’t bat for 10 overs at full intensity. He will step in based on the game’s demands,” Fleming explained at the post-match press conference.
The CSK coach reiterated that Dhoni remains too valuable to the team for his leadership and wicketkeeping and that sending him in too early could be a strategic misstep.
“From around the 13th or 14th over, he assesses the situation and decides. He trusts other batters early on but steps up when needed.”
CSK’s Struggles in the Powerplay Cost Them the Match
Fleming also pinpointed CSK’s poor powerplay performance as a key reason for their loss against Rajasthan Royals. While RR blasted 79/1 in the powerplay, CSK only managed 42/1,
Stafford vs. Colombo International: The Second Edition of the Big Match Kicks Off!
Shammi Silva Re-Elected as Sri Lanka Cricket President for Fourth Consecutive Term
Stephen Fleming Defends MS Dhoni’s Batting Position Amid Criticism
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