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Ramesh Mendis Fifer script Sri Lanka’s thumping win Vs Ireland

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Ireland tour of Sri Lanka second test match

Ramesh Mendis shone with the ball with a fifer as Sri Lanka thumped Ireland by an inning and 10 runs in the second Test to bag the series 2-0.

Sri Lanka, which made its first Test appearance in 1982 against England, won the first Test by an innings and 280 runs. Friday’s victory was the country’s 100th Test win.

Harry Tector fought a lone last-day rearguard action to try to bat out a draw, scoring 85 and mounting a 41-run stand for the ninth wicket, but Mendis took 5-64 as Ireland was bowled out for 202 in their second innings.

When Ireland slowly dragged the match to a draw pacer Asitha Fernando came to the rescue to bowl Tector with a yorker to end the resistance and accounted for last man Ben White with the very next ball to wrap up another emphatic win in style.

Earlier the visitors posted 492 in their first innings after Sri Lanka declared on 704-3.

Ireland resumed the fifth and last day on 54-2, hoping to hold on for a draw.

But Sri Lanka bowlers led by Ramesh Mendis were too hot to handle for the Irish as they never gave a breathing space for the visitors to play freely as Sri Lanka wrapped up things quite comfortably.

Highlights of the day were, the hero of the first test Parabath Jayasuriya became the quickest-ever spinner to take 50 wickets, in just seven Tests.

Fellow left-armer Alf Valentine of West Indies had taken eight games to the milestone more than seven decades earlier.

Brief Scores: Ireland 492 & 202 (Harry Tector 85, Andrew Balbirnie 46; Ramesh Mendis 5-64, Asitha Fernando 3-30) lost to Sri Lanka 704/3 decl. (Kusal Mendis 245, Nishan Madushka 205, Dimuth Karunaratne 115; Graham Hume 1-87) by an inning and 10 runs

Sri Lanka is on the brink of a victory

Nishan Madushka and Kusal Mendis smashed maiden double centuries to help Sri Lanka take control of the second test match against Ireland as they ended their first innings on 704-3.

Earlier Madushka converted his maiden Test century into a double hundred, becoming the second-youngest Sri Lankan to score a Test 200 after Mahela Jayawardene before he was dismissed for 205 in the third over after lunch when he was struck lbw off Andy McBrine’s bowling.

On the other hand, Kusal Mendis, showing his class with the bat reached his first Test 200 and went on to score 245 runs before he was caught at long-off.

Scoreboard reading at 3-629,
Angelo Mathews was dismissed for a duck in the first Test and bounced back to score a quick unbeaten century to lay the final touches for the Sri Lankan innings. It also registered as the quickest century the former skipper had scored.

Scoreboard reading at 704-3 skipper Dimuth Karunaratne declared their innings with a lead of 212 runs.

Earlier Captain Dimuth Karunaratne also contributed with a watchful 115 from the top of the order.

At stumps on day four, Ireland for their second innings was 54 for the loss of two wickets that of openers James McCollum (10) and Peter Moor (19) and still 159 runs from making Sri Lanka bat again.

McCollum was brilliantly bowled by offspinner Ramesh Mendis and Moor was dismissed when Angelo Mathews held a superb low catch at short extra cover.

Other highlights of the day were Dinesh Chandimal who lasted only 14 balls before having to retire hurt. The wicketkeeper-batter appeared to have hurt his shoulder while diving into the crease to avoid a runout, and couldn’t continue.

According to sources at SLC the wicket keeper batter has been sent to the hospital to obtain an x-ray.

Brief Scores: Ireland 492 & 54/2 (Ramesh Mendis 1-17, Prabath Jayasuriya 1-28) trail Sri Lanka 704/3 decl. (Kusal Mendis 245, Nishan Madushka 205, Dimuth Karunaratne 115; Graham Hume 1-87) by 158 runs

රමේෂ් මෙන්ඩිස්ගේ විශිෂ්ට ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවෙන් අයර්ලන්තයට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලැබූ ජයග්‍රහණය.

අයර්ලන්ත ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංචාරය (දෙවන ටෙස්ට්)

රමේෂ් මෙන්ඩිස් පන්දුවෙන් දස්කම් දැක්වූ අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අයර්ලන්තය සමඟ පැවැති දෙවැනි ටෙස්ට් තරගය ඉනිමකින් සහ ලකුණු 10කින් පරාජය කරමින් තරගාවලිය 2-0ක් ලෙස ජය ගත්තේය.

1982 වසරේ එංගලන්තයට එරෙහිව පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගයට එක් වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගය ඉනිමකින් සහ ලකුණු 280කින් ජය ගැනීමට සමත් විය. සිකුරාදා ජයග්‍රහණය එරට 100 වැනි ටෙස්ට් ජයග්‍රහණය විය.

හැරී ටෙක්ටර් අවසන් දිනයේ හුදකලා සටනක් කරමින් ලකුණු 85ක් ලබාගෙන ලකුණු 41ක සබඳතාවයක් නවවැනි කඩුල්ලට ගොඩනැගූ නමුත් මෙන්ඩිස් ලකුණු 5-64ක් ලබා ගත්තේ අයර්ලන්තය සිය දෙවැනි ඉනිමේදී ලකුණු 202කට දැවී ගිය බැවිනි.

අයර්ලන්තය සෙමෙන් තරගය ජය පරාජයෙන් තොරව ඇදගෙන යද්දී වේග පන්දු යවන ක්‍රීඩක අසිත ප්‍රනාන්දු ගලවා ගැනීමට පැමිණ ප්‍රතිරෝධය නිමා කිරීමට ටෙක්ටර් යෝකර් එකකින් දවා ගැනීමට සමත් වූ අතර ඊළඟ පන්දුවේදීම අවසන් ක්‍රීඩකයා වන බෙන් වයිට් වෙත තවත් විශිෂ්ට ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකි විය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලකුණු 704-3ක් ලබා සිටියදී පළමු ඉනිමේදී ලකුණු 492ක් රැස්කළේය.

අයර්ලන්තය ලකුණු 54-2ක් ලෙස පස්වැනි සහ අවසන් දිනය ආරම්භ කළේ තරගය ජය පරාජයෙන් තොරව පවත්වා ගැනීමේ අපේක්ෂාවෙනි.

නමුත් රමේෂ් මෙන්ඩිස්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පන්දු යවන්නන් ඉර්සිට හැසිරවීමට නොහැකි තරම් උණුසුම් වූ අතර ඔවුන් කිසි විටෙකත් අමුත්තන්ට නිදහසේ ක්‍රීඩා කිරීමට හුස්ම ගැනීමේ ඉඩක් ලබා නොදුන් අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉතා සුවපහසු ලෙස දේවල් ඔතා ගත්හ.

දිනයේ විශේෂත්වය වූයේ පළමු ටෙස්ට් තරගයේ වීරයා වූ පරබත් ජයසූරිය ටෙස්ට් තරග 7කදී පමණක් කඩුලු 50ක් දවාගත් වේගවත්ම දඟ පන්දු යවන්නා බවට පත්වීමයි.

බටහිර ඉන්දීය කොදෙව් කණ්ඩායමේ සෙසු වමත් ක්‍රීඩක ඇල්ෆ් වැලන්ටයින් දශක හතකට පෙර මෙම සන්ධිස්ථානයට තරඟ 8ක් ගෙන තිබුණි.

සංක්ෂිප්ත ලකුණු: අයර්ලන්තය 492 සහ 202 (හැරී ටෙක්ටර් 85, ඇන්ඩෲ බල්බිර්නි 46; රමේෂ් මෙන්ඩිස් 5-64, අසිත ප්‍රනාන්දු 3-30) ශ්‍රී ලංකාව හමුවේ 704/3 ඩී. (කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් 245, නිශාන් මධුෂ්ක 205, දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න 115; ග්‍රැහැම් හියුම් 1-87) ඉනිමකින් සහ ලකුණු 10කින්

ரமேஷ் மெண்டிஸின் அபார கிரிக்கெட் மூலம் அயர்லாந்துக்கு எதிராக இலங்கையின் வெற்றி.

அயர்லாந்து இலங்கை சுற்றுப்பயணம் (2வது டெஸ்ட்)

இரண்டாவது டெஸ்டில் அயர்லாந்தை இன்னிங்ஸ் மற்றும் 10 ரன்கள் வித்தியாசத்தில் இலங்கை தோற்கடித்து தொடரை 2-0 என கைப்பற்ற, ரமேஷ் மெண்டிஸ் பந்து வீச்சில் பிரகாசித்தார்.

1982ஆம் ஆண்டு இங்கிலாந்துக்கு எதிராக முதல் டெஸ்ட் போட்டியில் களமிறங்கிய இலங்கை அணி, முதல் டெஸ்டில் இன்னிங்ஸ் மற்றும் 280 ரன்கள் வித்தியாசத்தில் வெற்றி பெற்றது. வெள்ளியன்று கிடைத்த வெற்றி அந்நாட்டின் 100வது டெஸ்ட் வெற்றியாகும்.

ஹாரி டெக்டர் கடைசி நாள் ரீர்கார்ட் ஆக்ஷனைப் போராடி டிரா அவுட் செய்ய முயன்றார், 85 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார் மற்றும் ஒன்பதாவது விக்கெட்டுக்கு 41 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார், ஆனால் மெண்டிஸ் 5-64 எடுத்தார், அயர்லாந்து தனது இரண்டாவது இன்னிங்ஸில் 202 ரன்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்தது.

அயர்லாந்து மெதுவாக ஆட்டத்தை இழுத்துச் சென்றபோது, ​​வேகப்பந்து வீச்சாளர் அசித்த பெர்னாண்டோ, டெக்டரை யார்க்கரால் பந்துவீச, எதிர்ப்பை முடிவுக்குக் கொண்டு வந்து, அடுத்த பந்திலேயே பென் வைட்டைக் கைப்பற்றி, ஸ்டைலில் மற்றொரு உறுதியான வெற்றியைப் பெற்றார்.

முன்னதாக, இலங்கை அணி 704-3 ரன்களுக்கு டிக்ளேர் செய்த பிறகு, பார்வையாளர்கள் தங்கள் முதல் இன்னிங்ஸில் 492 ரன்கள் எடுத்தனர்.

ஐந்தாவது மற்றும் கடைசி நாள் ஆட்டத்தை 54-2 என்ற கணக்கில் அயர்லாந்து மீண்டும் தொடங்கியது.

ஆனால் ரமேஷ் மெண்டிஸின் இலங்கை பந்துவீச்சாளர்கள் இர்சிக்கு கையாள முடியாத அளவுக்கு சூடாக இருந்தனர், ஏனெனில் அவர்கள் பார்வையாளர்களுக்கு சுதந்திரமாக விளையாடுவதற்கு மூச்சு விடவில்லை, ஏனெனில் இலங்கை மிகவும் வசதியாக விஷயங்களை முடித்தது.

அன்றைய சிறப்பம்சங்கள் என்னவென்றால், முதல் டெஸ்ட் போட்டியின் நாயகனான பரபத் ஜெயசூர்யா, ஏழு டெஸ்டில் விளையாடி மிக வேகமாக 50 விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்திய சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர் ஆனார்.

மேற்கிந்திய தீவுகளின் சக இடது கை வீரர் ஆல்ஃப் வாலண்டைன் ஏழு தசாப்தங்களுக்கு முன்னர் எட்டு ஆட்டங்களை மைல்கல்லுக்கு எடுத்திருந்தார்.

சுருக்கமான ஸ்கோர்: அயர்லாந்து 492 & 202 (ஹாரி டெக்டர் 85, ஆன்ட்ரூ பால்பிர்னி 46; ரமேஷ் மெண்டிஸ் 5-64, அசிதா பெர்னாண்டோ 3-30) இலங்கையிடம் 704/3 டிக்ளில் தோல்வியடைந்தார். (குசல் மெண்டிஸ் 245, நிஷான் மதுஷ்கா 205, திமுத் கருணாரத்ன 115; கிரஹாம் ஹியூம் 1-87) இன்னிங்ஸ் மற்றும் 10 ரன்கள் வித்தியாசத்தில்

Football

FFSL Misses FIFA Opportunities Again Amid Concerns of Transparency and Inaction

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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.

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Athletics

Sri Lanka Secures Three Medals at Asian U18 Athletics Championships – Day 3 Highlights

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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

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News

Sri Lanka Names 25-Man Squad for Crucial Rugby Clash Against Malaysia

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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:

  1. Janidu Fernando
  2. Pulasthi Dissanayake
  3. Senura Perera
  4. Naveen Marasinghe
  5. Thilina Bandara
  6. Nizran Nillar
  7. Tharindu Chathuranga
  8. Lasindu Karunathilake

Backs:

  1. Heshan Jansen
  2. Nigel Ratwatte (Captain)
  3. Janidu Dilshan
  4. Akash Madhushanka
  5. Danushka Ranjan
  6. Dinal Ekanayake
  7. Mursheed Zubair

Finishers (Replacements):

  1. Vimukthi Gamage
  2. Nirosh Perera
  3. Mohamed Rifan
  4. Thenuka Nanayakkara
  5. Pasindu Bandara
  6. Thanuja Jayaweera
  7. Dahan Wickramarachchi
  8. Venura Kodagoda

Standby:

  1. Malitha Wijesundara
  2. 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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