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Royal dominate day one thanks to Manchanayake, Ramiru centuries

Published

3 years ago

March 16, 2023

Editor

Centuries from skipper Dasis Manchanayake and Ramiru Perera helped Royal College, Colombo dominate the opening day against arch-rivals S. Thomas’ College at stumps on day one of the 144th ‘Battle of the Blues’ which commenced at SSC Cricket Grounds, Colombo today.

Put into bat first on a green deck on an overcast morning, Royal was off to a poor start losing 4 wickets for just 63 runs.

Despite a shaky start Royal College rebuild their innings thanks to a record-breaking 229-run partnership between skipper Dasis Manchanayake and Ramiru Perera for the fifth wicket to revive their innings and slowly crawl their way back into the game

The 229-run partnership also re-wrote history as the highest partnership for the 5th wicket in the history of the ‘Battle of the Blues’.

Skipper Dasis Manchanayake led from the front, top scoring with a brilliant 137 runs off 150 deliveries including 17 boundaries while Ramiru Perera also played a similar inning as he scored 15 fours and 2 sixes during his 186-ball 128 to help their team go past the 300-run mark.

The duo batted cautiously to take Royal to a decent position until Royal’s skipper was bamboozled by a peach of a delivery from Kavindu Dias, to once again give the advantage to the Thomians.

With the scoreboard reading at 5-292, a desperate effort to score some quick runs towards the end proved fatal as Royal lost a few quick wickets that set batter Ramiru Perera to end day one on 326-8 after 74 overs.

Savindu Seneratharachchi (8) and Bulan Weeratunga (2) were at the crease when umpires called for stumps.

Besides Ramiru’s and Dasis Manchanayake’s knocks, Royal College’s scorecard was not that impressive as none of the other batters was able to pose a threat to the Thomian bowlers.

Right-arm medium pacer Akash Fernando shone with the ball claiming 4-55, while Kavindu Dias bagged 3 wickets.

The match will continue tomorrow for day 2.

මංචනායක, රමිරු ශතකවලට පින්සිදු වන්නට රාජකීය ආධිපත්‍ය දිනය පළමු දිනය

කොළඹ SSC ක්‍රිකට් පිටියේ අද ආරම්භ වූ 144 වැනි ‘බ්ලූස් සටනේ’ පළමු දිනය වූ අද තරගය නතර කරන විට නායක දාසිස් මංචනායකගේ සහ රමිරු පෙරේරාගේ ශතක හේතුවෙන් කොළඹ රාජකීය විද්‍යාලය පළමු දිනයේදී පරම ප්‍රතිවාදී S. තෝමස් විද්‍යාලයට එරෙහිව සිය ආධිපත්‍යය දැරීමට සමත් විය.

වලාකුළු සහිත උදෑසනක හරිත තට්ටුවේ පළමුවෙන් පන්දුවට පහර දුන් රාජකීයයන් ලකුණු 63 කට කඩුලු 4 ක් දැවී දුර්වල ආරම්භයක් ලබා ගත්තේය.

ආරම්භය බිඳවැටුණද රාජකීය විද්‍යාලය සිය ඉනිම යළි ගොඩනැංවූයේ නායක දාසිස් මංචනායක සහ රමිරු පෙරේරා පස්වැනි කඩුල්ලට ගොඩනැගූ වාර්තාගත ලකුණු 229ක සබඳතාවයට ස්තුතිවන්ත වන්නටය.

ලකුණු 229ක සබඳතාව ‘Battle of the Blues’ ඉතිහාසයේ 5 වැනි කඩුල්ල වෙනුවෙන් ගොඩනැගුණු ඉහළම සබඳතාව ලෙස ඉතිහාසය යළිත් ලියැවීය.

නායක දසිස් මංචනායක පන්දු 150කදී හතරේ පහර 17ක් සමඟින් විශිෂ්ට ලකුණු 137ක් ලබා ගනිමින් පෙරමුණේ සිට ඉහළම ලකුණු ලාභියා වූ අතර රමිරු පෙරේරා ද එවැනිම ඉනිමක් ක්‍රීඩා කරමින් පන්දු 186කදී හතරේ පහර 15ක් සහ හයේ පහර 2ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 128ක් රැස්කරමින් තම කණ්ඩායම පසුකර ගියේය. ලකුණු 300 ලකුණ.

කවිඳු ඩයස්ගේ පන්දුවකට පීච් පහරකින් රාජකීය නායකයා දැවී යන තුරුම ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා ප්‍රවේශමෙන් පන්දුවට පහර දුන්නේ තෝමියානුවන්ට වාසියක් ලබා දෙමිනි.

ලකුණු පුවරුව 5-292 ක් වන විට, අවසානය දක්වා වේගවත් ලකුණු කිහිපයක් ලබා ගැනීමට මංමුලා සහගත උත්සාහයක් මාරාන්තික බව ඔප්පු වූ අතර, රාජකීය විදුහලට ඉක්මන් කඩුලු කිහිපයක් අහිමි වූ අතර එමඟින් පිතිකරු රමිරු පෙරේරා පළමු දිනය නිමා කිරීමට ඕවර 74 කින් ලකුණු 326-8 ක් ලබා ගත්තේය.

විනිසුරුවන් කඩුල්ලට කැඳවන විට සවිඳු සෙනරආරච්චි (8) සහ බුලාන් වීරතුංග (2) ක්‍රීඩාගාරයේ සිටියහ.

රමිරුගේ සහ දසිස් මංචනායකගේ දස්කම් හැරුණු විට රාජකීය විදුහලේ ලකුණු පුවරුව එතරම් ආකර්ෂණීය නොවූයේ සෙසු පිතිකරුවන් කිසිවකුට තෝමියන් පන්දු යවන්නන්ට තර්ජනයක් එල්ල කිරීමට නොහැකි වූ බැවිනි.

දකුණත් මධ්‍යම වේග පන්දු යවන ක්‍රීඩක ආකාෂ් ප්‍රනාන්දු ලකුණු 4-55ක් ලෙසින් පන්දුවෙන් දස්කම් දැක්වූ අතර කවිඳු ඩයස් කඩුලු 3ක් දවා ගත්තේය.

තරගය අද 2 වැනි දිනටත් පැවැත්වේ.

மஞ்சநாயகி, ராமிரு நூற்றாண்டுகளுக்கு ராயல் டாமினியன் நாள் முதல் நன்றி

இன்று கொழும்பு SSC கிரிக்கெட் மைதானத்தில் ஆரம்பமான 144வது ‘Battle of the Blues’ போட்டியின் முதல் நாள் ஆட்டம் முடிவடையும் போது, அணித்தலைவர் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க மற்றும் ரமிரு பெரேராவின் சதங்கள், கொழும்பு ரோயல் கல்லூரிக்கு எதிரான ஆரம்ப நாள் ஆட்டத்தின் போது பரம எதிரிகளான S. Thomas’ கல்லூரிக்கு எதிராக ஆதிக்கம் செலுத்த உதவியது.

ஒரு மேகமூட்டமான காலையில் பச்சை டெக்கில் முதலில் பேட் செய்த ராயல் வெறும் 63 ரன்களுக்கு 4 விக்கெட்டுகளை இழந்து மோசமான தொடக்கத்தைத் தந்தது.

ஆட்டமிழந்த ஆரம்பம் இருந்தபோதிலும், ஐந்தாவது விக்கெட்டுக்காக அணித்தலைவர் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க மற்றும் ரமிரு பெரேரா ஆகியோர் இணைந்து 229 ஓட்டங்களை இணைத்ததன் மூலம் றோயல் கல்லூரி மீண்டும் இன்னிங்ஸைக் கட்டியெழுப்பியது.

229 ரன் பார்ட்னர்ஷிப், ‘பேட்டில் ஆஃப் தி ப்ளூஸ்’ வரலாற்றில் 5வது விக்கெட்டுக்கு அதிகபட்ச பார்ட்னர்ஷிப்பாகவும் வரலாற்றை மீண்டும் எழுதியது.

அணித்தலைவர் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க முன்னணியில் இருந்து 150 பந்துகளில் 17 பவுண்டரிகள் அடங்கலாக 137 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்று சிறந்த ஸ்கோரைப் பெற்றுக் கொண்டார், அதேபோன்று ரமிரு பெரேராவும் இதேபோன்ற இன்னிங்ஸை விளையாடினார், அவர் தனது 186 பந்துகளில் 128 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்று 186 பந்துகளில் 128 ஓட்டங்களைப் பெற்றார். 300 ரன் மார்க்.

கவிந்து டயஸின் பந்து வீச்சில் ராயல் கேப்டன் மூங்கில் விழுந்து, தோமியன்களுக்கு மீண்டும் சாதகமாக அமையும் வரை, இருவரும் கவனமாக துடுப்பெடுத்தாடி றோயலை ஒரு நல்ல நிலைக்கு கொண்டு சென்றனர்.

ஸ்கோர்போர்டு ரீடிங் 5-292 என்ற நிலையில், இறுதியில் சில விரைவான ரன்களை எடுப்பதற்கான அவநம்பிக்கையான முயற்சி ஆபத்தானது, ஏனெனில் ராயல் சில விரைவான விக்கெட்டுகளை இழந்தார், இதனால் பேட்டர் ரமிரு பெரேரா முதல் நாள் முடிவில் 74 ஓவர்களில் 326-8 ரன்களை எடுத்தார்.

நடுவர்கள் ஸ்டம்புகளுக்கு அழைப்பு விடுத்தபோது சவிந்து செனரதாராச்சி (8) மற்றும் புலன் வீரதுங்க (2) ஆகியோர் கிரீஸில் இருந்தனர்.

ரமிரு மற்றும் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்கவின் ஆட்டமிழக்க, ரோயல் கல்லூரியின் ஸ்கோர் கார்டு அவ்வளவு சுவாரஸ்யமாக இருக்கவில்லை, ஏனெனில் மற்ற துடுப்பாட்ட வீரர்கள் எவரும் தோமியன் பந்துவீச்சாளர்களுக்கு அச்சுறுத்தலாக இருக்க முடியவில்லை.

பந்து வீச்சில் வலது கை நடுத்தர வேகப்பந்து வீச்சாளர் ஆகாஷ் பெர்னாண்டோ 4-55 என பிரகாசிக்க, கவிந்து டயஸ் 3 விக்கெட்டுகளை கைப்பற்றினார்.

இன்று 2-வது நாளாக ஆட்டம் தொடரும்.

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Published

18 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

Sri Lanka’s U-17 national football team continues its AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers campaign in Group A, delivering a mix of promising moments and clear tactical challenges. After three matches, Sri Lanka sits on three points with one win and two defeats, and the remaining fixtures against China PR and Timor-Leste will determine their final group standings.

Strong Start: Sri Lanka Defeat Brunei 4–0

Sri Lanka opened the qualifiers with an impressive 4–0 victory over Brunei Darussalam. The team showcased fast transitional play, effective pressing in the attacking third, and confident finishing. Their use of wide areas and quick movement off the ball allowed Sri Lanka to control the pace of the match. The defensive unit had limited pressure but remained well-organised. This result highlighted Sri Lanka’s ability to dominate against opponents of similar ranking.

Competitive but Costly Defeat: Bahrain 2–1 Sri Lanka

Against Bahrain, Sri Lanka produced a competitive performance but were undone by defensive inconsistencies. Bahrain repeatedly exploited the spaces between fullbacks and centre-backs, taking advantage of gaps during transitions. Sri Lanka struggled to track midfield runners, allowing Bahrain to create sustained pressure. Despite these issues, Sri Lanka produced quality attacking sequences, including a well-worked equaliser. Goalkeeper Mohamed Kathafi delivered several key saves to keep Sri Lanka in the contest. This match illustrated both the team’s potential and the areas requiring structural improvement.

Bangladesh Expose Sri Lanka’s Structural Weaknesses

Bangladesh outplayed Sri Lanka in a 5–0 defeat, using a high-pressing system that Sri Lanka struggled to manage. The defensive line dropped too deep, creating large spaces in midfield that Bangladesh exploited. Sri Lanka were unable to build out from the back or maintain possession under pressure. Fatigue and gaps between lines contributed to the widening scoreline in the second half. This performance underscored the need for stronger defensive compactness, improved press resistance, physical conditioning, and better management of transitions.

Overall Assessment

Sri Lanka’s strengths lie in quick counter-attacks, energetic wing play, and reliable goalkeeping. However, weaknesses remain evident in defensive organisation, ball retention under pressure, central creativity, and physical match endurance. The campaign continues to provide critical experience for long-term youth development.

Upcoming Match Analysis

Sri Lanka vs China PR

China PR enters the fourth match with exceptional form, scoring 30 goals and conceding none. Their physicality, structured build-up, and high press are expected to challenge Sri Lanka heavily. Based on form and tactical profiles, China are strong favourites to secure a large-margin victory.

Sri Lanka vs Timor-Leste

Sri Lanka’s final fixture against Timor-Leste offers a favourable opportunity. Timor-Leste have conceded heavily in all matches and have yet to score or collect a point. Sri Lanka will likely control transitions and attacking phases, making this a realistic chance to secure a second win in the group.

Projected Final Group A Standings Based on Current Form

Rank	Team	P	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	China PR	5	5	0	~40	0	+40	15
2	Bangladesh	5	4	1	~23	6	+17	12
3	Bahrain	5	3	2	~10	8	+2	9
4	Sri Lanka	5	2	3	~8	18	-10	6
5	Timor-Leste	5	0	5	~2	28	-26	0
6	Brunei	5	0	5	~0	32	-32	0

A win against Timor-Leste would confirm Sri Lanka’s place in the top four and provide a positive conclusion to their AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifying campaign.

Football

Under-16 Division II Football Championship 2025 Kicks Off in Negombo

Published

19 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

Negombo, November 26–27, 2025 — The Sri Lanka Schools Football Association (SLSFA) has officially commenced the Under-16 Division II National Football Championship 2025, bringing together schools from all corners of the island for two days of intense competition in Negombo.

A total of 21 schools are grouped into seven groups (A–G), with matches taking place across four venues:

St. Mary’s College Ground
Kurana Mejaraaj Ground
Don Bosco Ground
Katunayaka 18 Kanuwa Ground

The tournament will be played in a first-round group stage, followed by a 2nd round knockout stage, leading to the crowning of the Division II champions.

Group Allocations & Schools (First Round)

Group A – St. Mary’s College Ground

Aligar National School – Batticaloa
Abdul Majeed – Kinniya
Stafford International School – Colombo

Group B – St. Mary’s College Ground

Zahira College – Mawanella
Vidyialoka College – Galle
Gateway College – Kandy

Group C – Kurana Mejaraaj Ground

St. Mary’s College – Chilaw
Zahira College – Matale
Gateway College – Colombo

Group D – Don Bosco Ground

Maris Stella College – Negombo
Maliyadeva Model School – Kurunegala
Al Minhaj National School – Nuwara Eliya

Group E – Don Bosco Ground

Jailani National School – Balangoda
Arafa National School – Weligama
Al-Falal College – Negombo

Group F – Kurana Mejaraaj Ground

Uva College – Badulla
Malhara Suliya MV – Galle
Thopawewa National School – Polonnaruwa

Group G – Katunayake 18 Kanuwa Ground

Jinaraja Boys’ College – Gampola
Zahira College – Puttalam
Al Fahiriya – Panadura

Day 1 Match Schedule – 26 November 2025

St. Mary’s College Ground (Groups A & B)

8.00 AM: Aligar NS vs Abdul Majeed
9.30 AM: Zahira Mawanella vs Vidyialoka Galle
10.30 AM: Abdul Majeed vs Stafford IS
11.30 AM: Vidyialoka Galle vs Gateway Kandy
1.00 PM: Aligar NS vs Stafford IS
2.00 PM: Zahira Mawanella vs Gateway Kandy

Kurana Mejaraaj Ground (Groups C & F)

8.00 AM: St. Mary’s Chilaw vs Zahira Matale
9.30 AM: Uva College vs Malhara Suliya MV
10.30 AM: Zahira Matale vs Gateway Colombo
11.30 AM: Malhara Suliya MV vs Thopawewa NS
1.00 PM: St. Mary’s Chilaw vs Gateway Colombo
2.00 PM: Uva College vs Thopawewa NS

Don Bosco Ground (Groups D & E)

8.00 AM: Jailani NS vs Arafa NS
9.30 AM: Maris Stella Negombo vs Maliyadeva MS
10.30 AM: Arafa NS vs Al-Falal College
11.30 AM: Maliyadeva MS vs Al Minhaj NS
1.00 PM: Jailani NS vs Al-Falal College
2.00 PM: Maris Stella vs Al Minhaj NS

Katunayake 18 Kanuwa Ground (Group G)

8.00 AM: Jinaraja Boys’ College vs Zahira Puttalam
9.30 AM: Zahira Puttalam vs Al Fahiriya Panadura
10.30 AM: Jinaraja Boys’ College vs Al Fahiriya

Knockout Stage – Second Round

The winners of Groups A, B, C, D, E, F, and G will advance to the Knockout Stage scheduled after the completion of group matches

. Match pairings will be finalized based on group rankings.

A Platform for Young Talent

The Under-16 Division II Championship continues to be a pivotal tournament in identifying and elevating Sri Lanka’s rising footballers. Teams will fight for qualification to higher divisions and for national-level recognition.

Sri Lankan Sports TV will provide live updates, match scores, photos, and special coverage throughout the tournament.

Football

Sri Lanka Champions League Kicks Off – 14 Teams, New Format & A New Era for Domestic Football

Published

4 days ago

November 23, 2025

Editor

The Champions League, the second-tier elite tournament of Football Sri Lanka (FFSL), returns with a revamped structure and a renewed vision for elevating the domestic game. A total of 14 top clubs have been drawn into two competitive groups, setting the stage for one of the most dynamic football seasons in recent years.

Tournament Format

14 teams will compete in two groups.
The top 4 teams from each group will advance to the prestigious Super 8 Round.
In the Super 8, all eight teams will battle each other in a league format.
The team with the highest points at the end of the Super 8 will be crowned Champions League winners.

This structure ensures more high-level matches, stronger competition, and maximum exposure for players and clubs across the country.

A Message That Marks a New Era — Exclusive to Sri Lankan Sports TV

President of Football Sri Lanka, Jaswar Umar, delivered a powerful and forward-thinking message reflecting the transformation happening within the game:

“We have now invested and elevated the domestic game with a world-class Champions League experience, delivering top-level match operations, enhanced presentation, commercial partnerships, and live TV broadcasts for all matches—an unprecedented milestone for local football.

The tournament not only provides advanced facilities for teams, players, coaches, and referees, but also launches a major social initiative: the ‘No to Drugs’ campaign, using football to educate communities and inspire rejection of drugs.

The Champions League marks a new era and a transformative step forward for football in Sri Lanka.

I request all teams, players and coaches to take maximum benefits from the facilities given.

This is – One Game. One Heart.”
— Jaswar Umar, FFSL President