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Kusal Mendis Heroics set up Dambulla Aura’s thrilling win at Lanka Premier League

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Kusal Mendis’s 46-ball 87 set up Dambulla Aura’s thrilling 10 runs win over Colombo Strikers in the eighth match of the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2023 worked off at Pallekele international stadium on Saturday (5).

After being invited to bat first, Dambulla Aura was struck with an early blow when they lost the wicket of Avishka Fernando cheaply.

However, despite a shaky start, Dambulla revived their innings with a clinical 120-run partnership between captain Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama for the second wicket.

Skipper Kusal Mendis leading from the front scored 87 off 46 before falling to Naseem Shah, while Samarawickrama scored 59 runs from 35 balls as both fell in successive overs.

At one stage it looked like Dambulla could go past the 200-run mark but a tight bowling effort towards the death overs denied such an opportunity as they were restricted to 192/6.

During the chase, Colombo Strikers were off to a similar start when they lost the first wicket that of their skipper Niroshan Dickwella with just 17 runs on the board.

Following an early breakthrough Pakistan star Babar Azam joined Pathum Nissanka in the middle and revived their innings to a certain extent with a 62-run partnership for the second wicket but it was cut short when Babar Azam was trapped LBW off Noor Ahmed’s bowling.

His partner Nissanka too failed to hang on as he departed for 22 runs.

With both st batters back in the pavilion Colombo strikers desperately needed someone to step up and change gears to aggressive mode was what exactly Nuwanindu Fernando did as he hammered unbeaten 56-runs which featured four boundaries and as many sixes to almost taking his team over the line.

Fernando glimmered a ray of hope for the Strikers to pull off the run chase with belligerent hitting but his efforts came up as his side succumbed to a 10-run defeat.

In the bowling front, Noor Ahmad claimed 2/34 while Dhananjaya de Silva and Hayden Kerr shared a wicket among them.

*Wanindu Hasaranga shine in B-Love Kandy’s thumping win over Jaffna Kings *

Meanwhile, in the other match played under lights between B-Love Kandy and Jaffna Kings, the latter thrashed defending champions by 8 wickets.

An all-round show by skipper Wanidu Hasaranga highlighted B-Love Kandy thumping win against three times Champions Jaffna Kings at the Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium.

Wanidu Hasaranga was named player of the match for his unbeaten 52 off 22 balls, 4-0-09-3 and two catches.

*Brief Scores: *

*Dambulla Aura vs Colombo Strikers *

Dambulla Aura 192/6 in 20 overs (Kusal Mendis 87, Sadeera Samarawickrema 59; Naseem Shah 2-29, Chamika Karunaratne 1-55, Matheesha Pathirana 3-31) beat Colombo Strikers 182/4 in 20 overs (Barbar Azam 41, Pathum Nissnaka 22, Nuwanidu Fernando 56, Chamika Karunaratne 20; Hayden Kerr 1-27, Dhananjaya de Silva 1-25, Noor Ahamad 2-34) by ten runs

B-Love Kandy Vs Jaffna Kings

Jaffna Kings 117/9 in 20 overs (David Miller 21, Priyamal Perera 22, Dunith Wellalage 38; Angelo Mathews 2-08, Wanidu Hasarana 3-09, Isuru Udana 1-17, Nuwan Pradeep 3-36) lost to B Love Kandy 118/2 in 13 overs (Fakhar Zaman 42, Dinesh Chandimal 22, Wanidu Hasaranga 52; Maheesh Theekshana 1-35, Nandre Burger 1-17) by eight wickets

ලංකා ප්‍රිමියර් ලීග් තරඟාවලියේ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස්ගේ දස්කම් නිසා දඹුල්ල කණ්ඩායමට තියුණු ජයක්.

2023 ලංකා ප්‍රිමියර් ලීග් (LPL) තරඟාවලියේ 8 වන තරඟයෙන් සෙනසුරාදා (5) පල්ලෙකැලේ ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රීඩාංගනයේ දී ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස්ගේ පන්දු 46 කදී ලකුණු 87 කින් දඹුල්ල අවුරා පිල කලම්බු ස්ට්‍රයිකර්ස් පිලට එරෙහිව ලකුණු 10 ක තියුණු ජයක් ලැබීය.

පළමුවෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදීමට ආරාධනා කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව අවිශ්ක ප්‍රනාන්දුගේ කඩුල්ල දැවී යාමත් සමග දඹුල්ල අවුරා පිලට තරඟය ආරම්භයේදීම අපහසු විය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් ආරම්භය දෙදරා ගියද දඹුල්ල කණ්ඩායම සිය ඉනිමට පණ දුන්නේ නායක කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් සහ සධීර සමරවික්‍රම එක්ව දෙවැනි කඩුල්ල සඳහා ලකුණු 120ක සබඳතාවක් ගොඩනැගූ බැවිනි.

එක් අවස්ථාවකදී දඹුල්ල පිලට ලකුණු 200 සීමාව පසුකර යා හැකි බව පෙනුනද, අවසන් ඕවරය දක්වා දැඩි පන්දු යැවීමක නිරත වීම නිසා ඔවුන් ලකුණු 192/6කට සීමා වීම නිසා එම අවස්ථාව අහිමි විය.

හඹා යාමේදී කලම්බු ස්ට්‍රයිකර්ස් පිලේ නායක නිරෝෂන් දික්වැල්ලගේ පළමු කඩුල්ල ලකුණු 17ක් පමණක් ලබා සිටියදී දැවී යන විටත් එවැනිම ආරම්භයක් ලබාගෙන සිටියේය.

ආරම්භක පිතිහරඹයකින් පසුව, පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක සමඟින් එක්ව දෙවැනි කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 62ක සබඳතාවක් ගොඩනැගූ පාකිස්තානු ක්‍රීඩක බබාර් අසාම්, නූර් අහමඩ්ගේ පන්දුවකට කඩුල්ල මුවා කිරීමකට හසුවූ බබාර් අසාම් දැවී යාමත් සමඟින් ඔවුන්ගේ ඉනිම තරමක් දුරට අඩාල තත්වයකට පත් විය.

නුවනිඳු ප්‍රනාන්දු හතරේ පහර 4ක් සහ හයේ පහරවල් රැසක් සමඟින් නොදැවී ලකුණු 56ක් ලබා තම කණ්ඩායම උඩට ගෙන යාමටයි.

ප්‍රනාන්දු සටන්කාමී පහරවල් සමඟින් ලකුණු හඹා යාම සාර්ථක කර ගැනීමට ස්ට්‍රයිකර්ස් වෙත බලාපොරොත්තුවේ කිරණක් දැල්වූ නමුත් ඔහුගේ ප්‍රයත්නය ඉවත ගියේ ඔහුගේ කණ්ඩායම ලකුණු 10ක පරාජයකට පත්වීමත් සමඟය.

පන්දු යැවීමේ පෙරමුණේ නූර් අහමඩ් 2/34 ට හිමිකම් කියූ අතර ධනංජය ද සිල්වා සහ හේඩ්න් කර් ඔවුන් අතර කඩුල්ලක් බෙදා ගත්හ.

B-Love Kandy වෙතින් යාපනය කිංග්ස් පරදා වනිඳු හසරංග විශිෂ්ට ජයක්

මේ අතර, බී-ලව් මහනුවර සහ යාපනය කිංග්ස් අතර ආලෝකය යටතේ පැවැති අනෙක් තරගයෙන් කඩුලු 8 කින් වත්මන් ශූරයන් පරාජය කිරීමට අවසන් මහා ක්‍රීඩකයෝ සමත් වූහ.

නායක වනිදු හසරංග විසින් පල්ලෙකැලේ ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේදී තුන් වතාවක් ශූරයන් වූ යාපනය කිංග්ස් කණ්ඩායමට එරෙහිව B-Love Kandy හි පෙරළිකාර ජයග්‍රහණය ඉස්මතු කරන ලදී.

පන්දු 22කදී නොදැවී ලකුණු 52ක්, 4-0-09-3ක් සහ උඩපන්දු දෙකක් ලබාගත් වනිදු හසරංග තරගයේ වීරයා ලෙස නම් කෙරිණි.

සංක්ෂිප්ත ලකුණු:

දඹුල්ල අවුරා vs Colombo Strikers

දඹුල්ල අවුරා ඕවර 20 කදී 192/6 (කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් 87, සධීර සමරවික්‍රම 59; නසීම් ෂා 2-29, චාමික කරුණාරත්න 1-55, මතීෂ පතිරණ 3-31) කලම්බු ස්ට්‍රයිකර්ස් 3-31, කලම්බු ස්ට්‍රයිකර්ස් 182/4 පැරදවීම ඕවර 20, පත්තම් නිස්නක 22, නුවනිදු ප්‍රනාන්දු 56, චාමික කරුණාරත්න 20, හේඩ්න් කර් 1-27, ධනංජය ද සිල්වා 1-25, නූර් අහමඩ් 2-34) ලකුණු දහයකින්

B-Love Kandy Vs Jaffna Kings

යාපනය කිංග්ස් ඕවර 20 කදී 117/9 (ඩේවිඩ් මිලර් 21, ප්‍රියමාල් පෙරේරා 22, දුනිත් වෙල්ලාලගේ 38; ඇන්ජලෝ මැතිව්ස් 2-08, වනිදු හසරණ 3-09, ඉසුරු උදාන 1-17, නුවන් ප්‍රදීප් 3-36) බී ලව් හමුවේ පරාජයට පත්විය. මහනුවර ඕවර 13 කදී 118/2 (ෆකාර් සමාන් 42, දිනේෂ් චන්දිමාල් 22, වනිදු හසරංග 52; මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ 1-35, නන්ද්‍රේ බර්ගර් 1-17) කඩුලු 8 කින්

Football

AIFF Faces FIFA, AFC Ban Threat as October 30 Deadline Looms

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Indian football is staring at yet another international suspension as FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have jointly warned the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to ratify its long-pending constitution by October 30, 2025, or risk a complete ban from world football.

In a strongly-worded two-page letter sent on Tuesday (August 26) to AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, FIFA and AFC expressed “profound concern” over the failure to finalise and implement a revised constitution, a matter pending before India’s Supreme Court since 2017.

If suspended, India’s national teams and clubs would be barred from all international competitions, while the country’s ambitious 2036 Olympic Games bid in Ahmedabad could also be thrown into uncertainty.

FIFA & AFC Ultimatum

The letter, signed by FIFA’s Chief Member Associations Officer Elkhan Mammadov and AFC Deputy General Secretary Vahid Kardany, set out three urgent requirements for the AIFF:

1. Obtain a definitive Supreme Court order approving the revised constitution.

2. Ensure full compliance with FIFA and AFC statutes.

3. Formally ratify the constitution at the next AIFF General Meeting.

Failure to comply, they warned, would trigger sanctions, including full suspension of AIFF membership.

Previous Suspension in 2022

This is not the first governance crisis to hit Indian football. In August 2022, FIFA suspended the AIFF for “third-party interference” after a court-appointed Committee of Administrators temporarily ran the federation. That ban lasted just two weeks, lifted only after fresh elections were held in which Kalyan Chaubey defeated football legend Bhaichung Bhutia.

Domestic Fallout – ISL in Crisis

The deadlock has already disrupted Indian football at the domestic level. The Indian Super League (ISL), India’s top-tier professional league, has been put “on hold” by Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the AIFF’s commercial partner, due to uncertainty over its Master Rights Agreement, which expires in December 2025.

At least three clubs have suspended operations or delayed salaries, while all 11 ISL clubs have warned of an “existential crisis.” Reports from FIFPRO further highlight cases of players’ contracts being terminated, leaving livelihoods at risk.

The Supreme Court of India will hear the matter again on August 28, a session that could determine the immediate future of the ISL and India’s football calendar.

What’s at Stake

If AIFF fails to meet the October deadline, India could lose:

• Participation in FIFA and AFC tournaments.

• Entry rights for national teams and clubs in international competitions.

• Momentum in its 2036 Olympics bid.

• Credibility with players, fans, and commercial partners.

For now, the football fraternity in India waits anxiously for the Supreme Court’s verdict and AIFF’s ability to steer through yet another governance storm

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Football

Heritage Derby Trophy Goes to Hameed Al Husseinie College

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Colombo – Hameed Al Husseinie College emerged victorious in the prestigious Heritage Derby Trophy football encounter against Zahira College, Maradana, securing a 3–1 win at the Colombo Racecourse grounds yesterday.

The match kicked off under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, adding special significance to this annual football rivalry.

Hameed Al Husseinie College took control early, leading 2–0 at halftime before sealing the victory with a third goal in the second half. Zahira College managed to pull one back, but it was not enough to challenge the dominant performance of the winners.

The trophy presentation was held soon after the final whistle, with the principals of both schools — Rizvi Marikkar of Zahira College and Mrs. Dain of Hameed Al Husseinie College — present to witness the celebrations.

This latest victory adds another chapter to the rich history of the Heritage Derby, further cementing Hameed Al Husseinie College’s reputation in school football.

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Football

Exclusive: AFC Fines Sri Lankan Footballer Over “Free Palestine” Message

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Colombo – June 13
Sri Lankan national footballer Mohamed Thilham, who recently made headlines after displaying a “PRAY FOR FREE PALESTINE” message on his undershirt during post-match celebrations, has now been officially penalized by international football authorities.

Following Sri Lanka’s 3-1 victory over Chinese Taipei in the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers on June 10 at the Colombo Racecourse Stadium, Thilham—a non-playing substitute—unveiled the message, drawing both praise and criticism from various quarters.

⚠️ AFC Sanctions Player with USD 2,000 Fine

FIFA, in coordination with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), has now issued a formal disciplinary notice to the player, imposing a USD 2,000 fine. This letter, according to sources within the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), was sent addressing to Thilham, underscoring AFC stance on politically charged expressions at official matches.

According to FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, players are prohibited from displaying political, religious, or personal slogans during matches or official ceremonies. While Thilham’s gesture occurred after the final whistle, FIFA and AFC treat any action within the stadium environment as part of official conduct.

⚽ FFSL Under Scrutiny for Disciplinary Action

FFSL President Jaswar Umar previously stated that the act “was not authorized by the federation” and “violates international football disciplinary norms.” He also confirmed that the FFSL would take internal disciplinary action against the player.

However, this incident has reignited public debate over the role of athletes in social advocacy and the limits imposed by international sports law. While some supporters see Thilham’s actions as courageous and morally driven, others have raised concerns about the player’s career stability and future opportunities under increasing scrutiny.

📝 Editorial Insight

At Sri Lankan Sports TV, we initially chose to withhold the content of the message in our match coverage—out of responsibility to the player’s career and to respect global sports protocol. However, the message went viral after several social media users circulated the full image, seemingly with the intention of sparking controversy.

The resulting spotlight has unfortunately led to a formal penalty, underscoring the real-world consequences that athletes may face when international regulations intersect with personal conviction.

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