News
Maiden national call-up for Dushan Hemantha

Test series against Ireland
Leg-spinning all-rounder Dushan Hemantha received his maiden national call-up when he secured a berth in the 15-member squad picked to play in the two match Test series against Ireland.
Hemantha (28) impressed the selectors during the recently concluded England Lions tour of Sri Lanka with eye-catching bowling performances to earn this call-up.
Hemanth has played 44 first-class matches, accumulating 1993 runs at 31.63, while picking up 98 wickets.
Star opening batter Dimuth Karunaratne will continue to lead the Sri Lankan contingent, but he will miss the services of his regular opening partners Pathum Nissanka and Oshada Fernando, as both have been overlooked by the selectors for this series.
Nishan Madushka who made his Test debut during the recently concluded New Zealand series has retained his place, while wicket-keeper batter Sadeera Samarawickrama has replaced Niroshan Dickwella in the squad.
Left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya who was not part of the Test squad for the New Zealand series, has returned to strengthen the spin attack.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has yet to officially announce the squad.
The 2-match Test series will be played from the 16 to 28 April. Both Tests will be played at Galle International Cricket Stadium.
Probable Squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Nishan Madushka (wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Milan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Lasith Embuldeniya, Dushan Hemantha
දුෂාන් හේමන්තට මංගල ජාතික කැඳවීම
අයර්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලිය
පාද දඟ පන්දු යවන තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩක දුෂාන් හේමන්ත අයර්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව පැවැත්වෙන තරග දෙකකින් සමන්විත ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලියට ක්රීඩා කිරීමට තෝරා ගත් ක්රීඩකයින් 15 දෙනකුගෙන් යුත් සංචිතයට ඇතුළත් වීමත් සමඟ ඔහුගේ මංගල ජාතික කැඳවීම ලැබුණි.
හේමන්ත (28) පසුගියදා නිමා වූ එංගලන්ත ලයන්ස් ශ්රී ලංකා සංචාරයේදී මෙම කැඳවීම ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා නෙත් සිත් ඇදගන්නා පන්දු යැවීමේ දස්කම් සමඟින් තේරීම් කමිටුවේ විශ්මයට පත් විය.
හේමන්ත් පළමු පෙළ තරග 44කට ක්රීඩා කර ඇති අතර, ලකුණු 1993ක් රැස්කරමින් 31.63ක දී කඩුලු 98ක් දවාගෙන ඇත.
ආරම්භක පිතිකරු දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න තවදුරටත් ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමේ නායකත්වය දරනු ඇත. කෙසේ වෙතත්, මෙම තරඟාවලිය සඳහා තේරීම් කමිටු සාමාජිකයින් දෙදෙනාම නොසලකා හැර ඇති බැවින් ඔහුගේ නිත්ය ආරම්භක හවුල්කරුවන් වන පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක සහ ඕෂද ප්රනාන්දුගේ සේවය ඔහුට අහිමි වනු ඇත.
පසුගියදා නිමාවට පත් වූ නවසීලන්ත තරගාවලියේදී සිය මංගල ටෙස්ට් තරගයට ක්රීඩා කළ නිශාන් මධුෂ්ක සිය ස්ථානය රැකගෙන ඇති අතර නිරෝෂන් දික්වැල්ල වෙනුවට කඩුලු රකින පිතිකරු සධීර සමරවික්රම සංචිතයට කැඳවා තිබේ.
නවසීලන්ත තරගාවලියේ ටෙස්ට් සංචිතයට ඇතුළත් නොවූ වමත් දඟපන්දු යවන ක්රීඩක ලසිත් ඇඹුල්දෙණිය දඟපන්දු ප්රහාරය ශක්තිමත් කරමින් නැවත පැමිණ තිබේ.
ශ්රී ලංකා ක්රිකට් ආයතනය මෙතෙක් සංචිතය නිල වශයෙන් ප්රකාශයට පත් කර නොමැත.
තරග 2කින් සමන්විත ටෙස්ට් තරගාවලිය අප්රේල් 16 වැනිදා සිට 28 වැනිදා දක්වා පැවැත්වේ. ටෙස්ට් තරග දෙකම ගාල්ල ජාත්යන්තර ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩාංගණයේදී පැවැත්වේ.
විය හැකි සංචිතය
දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න (නායක), ධනංජය ද සිල්වා, කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස්, ඇන්ජලෝ මැතිව්ස්, දිනේෂ් චන්දිමාල්, කමිඳු මෙන්ඩිස්, නිශාන් මධුෂ්ක (WK), සදීර සමරවික්රම (WK), අසිත ප්රනාන්දු, විශ්ව ප්රනාන්දු, මිලාන් රත්නායක, ප්රභාත් ජයසූරිය, ප්රභාත් ජයසූරිය, ඇඹුල්දෙණිය, දුෂාන් හේමන්ත
துஷான் ஹேமந்தவுக்கு முதல் தேசிய அழைப்பு
அயர்லாந்துக்கு எதிரான டெஸ்ட் தொடர்
லெக்-ஸ்பின்னிங் ஆல்-ரவுண்டர் துஷான் ஹேமந்த, அயர்லாந்துக்கு எதிரான இரண்டு போட்டிகள் கொண்ட டெஸ்ட் தொடரில் விளையாடத் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட 15 பேர் கொண்ட அணியில் இடம் பெற்றபோது, அவர் தனது முதல் தேசிய அழைப்பைப் பெற்றார்.
ஹேமந்தா (28) சமீபத்தில் முடிவடைந்த இலங்கையின் இங்கிலாந்து லயன்ஸ் சுற்றுப்பயணத்தின் போது கண்ணைக் கவரும் பந்துவீச்சு செயல்திறன் மூலம் தேர்வாளர்களைக் கவர்ந்தார்.
ஹேமந்த் 44 முதல் தர போட்டிகளில் விளையாடி 1993 ரன்களை 31.63 சராசரியில் குவித்து 98 விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்தியுள்ளார்.
தொடக்க ஆட்டக்காரர் திமுத் கருணாரத்னே இலங்கை அணியை தொடர்ந்து வழிநடத்துவார். இருப்பினும், இந்தத் தொடருக்கான தேர்வாளர்கள் இருவரையும் புறக்கணித்ததால், அவரது வழக்கமான தொடக்க பங்காளிகளான பாத்தும் நிஸ்ஸங்க மற்றும் ஓஷத பெர்னாண்டோ ஆகியோரின் சேவைகளை அவர் இழக்க நேரிடும்.
சமீபத்தில் நிறைவடைந்த நியூசிலாந்து தொடரின் போது டெஸ்ட் அரங்கில் அறிமுகமான நிஷான் மதுஷ்க தனது இடத்தை தக்கவைத்துக் கொண்ட அதேவேளையில், நிரோஷன் டிக்வெல்லாவிற்கு பதிலாக விக்கெட் கீப்பர் பேட்டர் சதீர சமரவிக்ரம அணியில் சேர்க்கப்பட்டுள்ளார்.
நியூசிலாந்து தொடருக்கான டெஸ்ட் குழாமில் இடம்பெறாத இடது கை சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர் லசித் எம்புல்தெனிய சுழல் தாக்குதலை வலுப்படுத்துவதற்காக நாடு திரும்பியுள்ளார்.
இலங்கை கிரிக்கெட் (எஸ்எல்சி) அணியை இன்னும் அதிகாரப்பூர்வமாக அறிவிக்கவில்லை.
2 போட்டிகள் கொண்ட டெஸ்ட் தொடர் வரும் 16ம் தேதி முதல் 28ம் தேதி வரை நடக்கிறது. இரண்டு டெஸ்ட் போட்டிகளும் காலி சர்வதேச கிரிக்கெட் மைதானத்தில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது.
சாத்தியமான அணி
திமுத் கருணாரத்ன (கேப்டன்), தனஞ்சய டி சில்வா, குசல் மெண்டிஸ், ஏஞ்சலோ மேத்யூஸ், தினேஷ் சந்திமால், கமிந்து மெண்டிஸ், நிஷான் மதுஷ்க (வி.கே.), சதீர சமரவிக்ரம (வி.கே.), அசித்த பெர்னாண்டோ, விஷ்வ பெர்னாண்டோ, மிலன் ரத்நாயக்க, ரமேஷ் மென்டி, பிரபாத் ஜெயசூர்யா எம்புல்தெனிய, துஷான் ஹேமந்த
Athletics
Three Sri Lankan Athletes Qualify for World Athletics Indoor Championships 2025
Colombo: In a historic achievement for Sri Lankan athletics, three national athletes have officially qualified for the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2025, set to take place from May 21 to 23 in Nanjing, China. This marks Sri Lanka’s largest representation at the prestigious event in over two decades.
Sri Lankan Athletes Heading to Nanjing 2025
The three Sri Lankan athletes who secured their spots based on performances and world rankings are:
- Chamod Yodasinghe – 60m Sprint
- Kalinga Kumarage – 400m
- Kaveesha Bandara – 60m Hurdles
Their qualification comes after impressive performances at the inaugural National Short Course Championship, highlighting Sri Lanka’s growing potential in indoor athletics.
A Historic Moment for Sri Lanka
The last time Sri Lanka sent a team to the World Athletics Indoor Championships was in 2001 (Lisbon), where four athletes represented the nation. This latest qualification marks the largest contingent in over 20 years, showcasing significant progress despite limited indoor competition opportunities in Sri Lanka.
With preparations underway, these athletes will aim to make an impact on the global stage and elevate Sri Lanka’s presence in international athletics.
Stay tuned for more updates on Sri Lanka’s journey to Nanjing 2025!
News
Chinese Government Pledges Support for Sri Lanka’s Sports and Youth Development
Colombo: In a significant move towards strengthening sports and youth development in Sri Lanka, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong met with Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Kumar Gamage, and Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara today (26) at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
During the meeting, Ambassador Qi Zhenhong congratulated the newly appointed ministers and reaffirmed China’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka’s sports and youth programs. Discussions centered on enhancing bilateral cooperation and exploring actionable initiatives to uplift sports development in the country.
A key highlight of the discussions was China’s willingness to promote sports such as Tai Chi and Dragon Boat Racing in Sri Lanka. This initiative aligns with the broader vision of fostering international sports collaboration and expanding the sporting culture within the country.
This renewed partnership marks an important step in Sri Lanka’s sports development, paving the way for future investments and technical support to enhance local sporting infrastructure and training programs.
Stay tuned for more updates on this collaboration and its impact on Sri Lankan sports!
Football
Sri Lanka to Host the Prestigious 2025 SAFF Championship After 17 Years
Colombo: Sri Lanka has officially been granted the hosting rights for the 2025 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship, set to take place in June 2025. The decision marks a historic moment for Sri Lankan football, as the nation last hosted the tournament in 2008 alongside the Maldives.
The SAFF Championship is widely regarded as the “World Cup of South Asia,” bringing together the best footballing nations from the region. The 2025 edition will feature seven teams:
- India (Defending champions and most successful team)
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Maldives
- Nepal
- Sri Lanka (Host nation)
With the backing of home supporters, Sri Lanka will look to capitalize on this opportunity and aim for a deep run in the competition.
SAFF Championship: A Look at Past Editions and Winners
The SAFF Championship, first held in 1993, has seen 14 editions so far. India has been the most dominant team in the tournament’s history, winning a record 9 titles. The Maldives and Bangladesh have each won the tournament twice, while Sri Lanka claimed their only title in 1995, when they hosted the event in Colombo.
Here is a look at the past winners:
- India – 9 titles (1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023)
- Maldives – 2 titles (2008, 2018)
- Bangladesh – 2 titles (2003, 2023)
- Sri Lanka – 1 title (1995)
Sri Lanka’s return as the host nation in 2025 gives them a golden opportunity to reclaim the championship after 30 years.
If executed well, the 2025 SAFF Championship could mark the beginning of a new era for Sri Lankan football, helping the nation rise again in South Asian football.
Can Sri Lanka make the most of this historic opportunity? The countdown to SAFF 2025 begins!
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