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Sri Lanka fined by the Asian Football Confederation

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The Asian Football Confederation has decided to fine Sri Lanka $20,000 due to the last-minute cancellation of the Under-17 Asian Cup participation, which was scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan for the Sri Lanka Under-17 team.

The tournament was held in Uzbekistan from the 5th to the 9th of October, and Sri Lanka Under 17 team also started training to participate in it. However, when the sports minister cancelled the gazette to extend the suspension period of the sports association by one and a half months, all activities of the Sri Lanka Football Association came to a standstill. Due to this, the participation of the youth team had to be abandoned at the last moment.

The Sri Lankan team was scheduled to leave the island for this tournament on October 3rd, including 23 players and 05 officials. Their participation in this tournament was stopped at the last moment due to the non-allocation of relevant air tickets.

Although all arrangements were made for the tour to Uzbekistan, the tournament was missed due to the inability to get the necessary air tickets. The former heads of the Football Federation said that despite having the money needed to buy air tickets, they could not participate in this tournament due to the abolition of the authority to sign it in the Gazette.

Apart from this, the former president Mr Jaswar Umar says that there is political influence behind this and that some groups tried to disrupt this tournament by raising false allegations. He said Rodrigo was behind the plot. He said that if an international match ban is imposed, the responsibility will be given to Ranjith Rodrigo.

But in response to all this, Mr Ranjith Rodrigou has stated that the former president Mr Jaswar Umar should take full responsibility for this and that due to his short-sighted control and planning without proper management, the Sri Lankan team could not participate in this tournament. As Sri Lanka is on the brink of a ban by the World Football Confederation, Jaswar Umar should take responsibility for it, and Mr Umar has been informed about this situation through three letters from the World Football Confederation. Still, he has not paid attention to it and has made the situation more complicated. Rodrigo said.

The sports ministry says that the squad of players participating in the tournament should be forwarded to the ministry one month in advance. But it is also reported that the tournament was missed because the football administration at that time did not present the squad on time.

ආසියානු පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට දඩයක්

ශ්‍රී ලංකා යොවුන් 17 පහල කණ්ඩායම උස්බෙගිස්ථානයේ පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතව තිබූ 17 පහළ ආසියානු කුසලාන පලමු කොටසේ තරග සදහා පිටත්ව යාමට නියමිතව තිබූ නමුත් අවසන් මොහොතේ එය අවලංගු කිරීම හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ඩොලර් 20 000 දඩයක් පැනවීමට ආසියානු පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය තීරණය කර ඇත.

මෙම තරගාවලිය ඔක්තෝබර් මස 5 වෙනිදා සිට 9 වෙනිදා දක්වා උස්බෙගිස්ථානයේදී පැවැත් වූ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකා 17 පහළ කණ්ඩායමද ඒ සදහා සහභාගී වීමට පුහුණුවීම් ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. කෙසේ වෙතත් ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යවරයා ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයේ දුර කාලය මාස එකාහාමාරක් දීර්ඝ කර දීමේ ගැසට් පත්‍රය අවලංගු කර දීමත් සමග ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාපන්දු සංගමයේ සියලු කටයුතු ඇන හිටින ලදී. මේ හේතුවෙන් යොවුන් කණ්ඩායමේ සහභාගීත්වය අවසන් මොහොතේදී අත් හැර දමීමට සිදු විය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම මෙම තරගාවලිය සදහා දිවයිනින් පිටත්ව යාමට නියමිතව තිබුනේ ඔක්තෝබර් 3 වෙනිදා වූ අතර ඒ සදහා ක්‍රීඩකයින් 23 දෙනෙකු හා නිළධාරීන් 05 දෙනෙකු ඇතුළත් වේ. අදාල ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් වෙන් නොකිරීම හේතුවෙන් ඔවුන් හට මෙම තරගාවලියට සහභාගී වීම අවසාන මොහොතේ ඇණ හිටින ලදී.

උස්බෙගිස්ථාන තරග සංචාරය සදහා සියලු කටයුතු සංවිධානය කර තිබුනද, ඒ සදහා අවශ්‍ය ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වීම නිසා මෙම තරගාවලිය මග හැරී ඇත. ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් මිල දී ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය මුදල් පැවතියද එයට අත්සන් කිරීමේ බලය ගැසට් පත්‍රය තුලින් අහෝසි වීම තුලින් මෙම තරගාවලියට සහභාගී වීමට නොහැකි වූ බව පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයේ හිටපු ප්‍රධානීන් පවසනු ලැබීය.

මීට අමතරව හිටපු සභාපති ජස්වර් උමර් මහතා පවසන්නේ මේ පිටුපස දේශපාලනික බලපෑමක් ඇති බවත් බොරු චෝදනා නගමින් මෙම තරගාවලිය කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමට යම් කණ්ඩායම් උත්සහ ගත් බවත් ඔහු පැවසීය. මෙම කුමන්ත්‍රණය පිටුපස රොඩ්‍රිගෝ සිටින බව ඔහු පැවසීය. යම් හෙයකින් ජාත්‍යන්තර තරග තහනමක් පැනවුවහොත් එහි වගකීම රංජිත් රොඩ්‍රිගෝ හට පැවරෙන බව ඔහු පැවසීය.

නමුත් මේ සියල්ලට පිළිතුරු දක්වමින් රංජිත් රොද්‍රිගූ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටින්නේ මෙහි සම්පූර්ණ වගකීම හිටපු සභාපති ජස්වර් උමර් මහතා විසින් භාරගත යුතු බවත් ඔහුගේ අදූරදර්ශී පාලනය හා නිසි කළමාණකරනයකින් තොරව සැලසුම් සකස් කිරීම හේතුවෙන් මෙම තරගාවලියට ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමට සහභාගී වීමට නොහැකි වූ බවයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලෝක පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයේ තහනමක අභියස සිටින බැවින් එහි වගකීම ගත යුත්තේද ජස්වර් උමර් විසින් බව පවසන අතර, උමර් මහතා හට ලෝක පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය විසින් ලිපි තුනක් මාර්ගයෙන් මෙම නිළවරණය පිළිබදව දැනුවත් කොට ඇතත් ඔහු ඒ පිළිබදව අවදානය යොමු නොකර මෙම තත්වය වඩාත් සංකීර්ණතවයට පියවර ගෙන ඇති බව රොද්‍රිගූ මහතා පැවසීය.

ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය පවසන්නේ තරගාවලියට සහභාගී වන ක්‍රීඩක සංචිතය මාසකයක පෙර අමාත්‍යංශය වෙත යොමු කල යුතු බවය. නමුත් එවකට පැවති පාපන්දු පරිපාලනය එම සංචිතය නියමිත වේලාවට ඉදිරිපත් නොකිරීම නිසා මෙම තරගාවලිය මග හැරී ඇති බවටද වාර්ථා වේ.

இலங்கைக்கு ஆசிய கால்பந்து கூட்டமைப்பு அபராதம் விதித்துள்ளது

இலங்கை 17 வயதுக்குட்பட்ட அணிக்காக உஸ்பெகிஸ்தானில் நடைபெறவிருந்த 17 வயதுக்குட்பட்ட ஆசியக் கிண்ணப் போட்டிகள் இறுதி நிமிடத்தில் இரத்துச் செய்யப்பட்டமையினால் இலங்கைக்கு 20,000 டொலர் அபராதம் விதிக்க ஆசிய கால்பந்து கூட்டமைப்பு தீர்மானித்துள்ளது.

உஸ்பெகிஸ்தானில் கடந்த ஒக்டோபர் மாதம் 5ஆம் திகதி முதல் 9ஆம் திகதி வரை இந்தப் போட்டிகள் இடம்பெற்றதுடன், இலங்கை 17 வயதுக்குட்பட்ட அணியும் இதில் பங்குபற்றுவதற்கான பயிற்சிகளை ஆரம்பித்தது. எவ்வாறாயினும், விளையாட்டுச் சங்கத்தின் இடைநிறுத்த காலத்தை ஒன்றரை மாதங்களுக்கு நீடிப்பதற்கான வர்த்தமானியை விளையாட்டு அமைச்சர் ரத்து செய்ததால், இலங்கை கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்தின் அனைத்து நடவடிக்கைகளும் ஸ்தம்பிதம் அடைந்தன. இதன் காரணமாக இளைஞர் அணி பங்கேற்பை கடைசி நேரத்தில் கைவிட வேண்டிய நிலை ஏற்பட்டது.

23 வீரர்களும் 05 அதிகாரிகளும் உள்ளடங்கிய இந்தப் போட்டிக்காக இலங்கை அணி எதிர்வரும் ஒக்டோபர் மாதம் 3ஆம் திகதி இலங்கையிலிருந்து புறப்படவிருந்தது. உரிய விமான டிக்கெட்டுகள் ஒதுக்கப்படாததால் கடைசி நேரத்தில் இந்த போட்டியில் அவர்கள் பங்கேற்பது நிறுத்தப்பட்டது.

உஸ்பெகிஸ்தான் சுற்றுப்பயணத்திற்கான அனைத்து ஏற்பாடுகளும் செய்யப்பட்டிருந்த போதிலும், தேவையான விமான டிக்கெட்டுகளைப் பெற முடியாத காரணத்தினால் போட்டித் தொடர் தவறிவிட்டது. விமானப் பயணச்சீட்டுக்களை கொள்வனவு செய்வதற்குத் தேவையான பணம் இருந்த போதிலும், வர்த்தமானியில் கையொப்பமிடும் அதிகாரம் இல்லாதொழிக்கப்பட்டதன் காரணமாக தாம் இப்போட்டியில் பங்குபற்ற முடியாதுள்ளதாக உதைபந்தாட்ட சம்மேளனத்தின் முன்னாள் தலைவர்கள் தெரிவித்தனர்.

இது தவிர, இதன் பின்னணியில் அரசியல் செல்வாக்கு இருப்பதாகவும், பொய்யான குற்றச்சாட்டுகளை முன்வைத்து போட்டியை சீர்குலைக்க சில குழுக்கள் முயற்சிப்பதாகவும் முன்னாள் ஜனாதிபதி ஜஸ்வர் உமர் தெரிவித்துள்ளார். சதித்திட்டத்தின் பின்னணியில் ரொட்ரிகோ இருப்பதாக அவர் கூறினார். சர்வதேச போட்டி தடை விதிக்கப்பட்டால் அதற்கான பொறுப்பு ரஞ்சித் ரொட்ரிகோவிடம் ஒப்படைக்கப்படும் என அவர் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

ஆனால் இவை அனைத்திற்கும் பதிலளித்த திரு.ரஞ்சித் ரொட்ரிகோ, இதற்கு முன்னாள் ஜனாதிபதி திரு.ஜஸ்வர் உமர் முழுப்பொறுப்பேற்க வேண்டும் எனவும், சரியான நிர்வாகம் இல்லாத அவரது குறுகிய கால கட்டுப்பாடு மற்றும் திட்டமிடல் காரணமாக இலங்கை அணியால் பங்கேற்க முடியவில்லை எனவும் தெரிவித்துள்ளார். இந்த போட்டி. உலக கால்பந்தாட்ட சம்மேளனத்தின் தடையின் விளிம்பில் இலங்கை இருப்பதால், ஜஸ்வர் உமர் இதற்கு பொறுப்பேற்க வேண்டும், இது குறித்து திரு. அது நிலைமையை மேலும் சிக்கலாக்கியுள்ளது என்றார் ரோட்ரிகோ.

போட்டியில் பங்கேற்கும் வீரர்களின் அணியை ஒரு மாதத்திற்கு முன்னதாக அமைச்சகத்திற்கு அனுப்ப வேண்டும் என்று விளையாட்டு அமைச்சகம் கூறுகிறது. ஆனால் அப்போதைய கால்பந்து நிர்வாகம் சரியான நேரத்தில் அணியை முன்வைக்காததால் போட்டி தவறவிட்டதாகவும் தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது.

Football

European Parliament Members Push for FIFA Inquiry Over Balogun Suspension Decision

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A group of European Parliament members is seeking a formal investigation into FIFA President Gianni Infantino following the controversial decision to allow United States forward Folarin Balogun to play after receiving a red card earlier in the tournament.

The lawmakers argue that the move raises serious concerns about FIFA’s independence and whether political influence played a role in altering a disciplinary decision during the FIFA World Cup.

Balogun, 25, was sent off in the United States’ July 1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Under standard tournament regulations, the dismissal would have ruled him out of his team’s next fixture. However, FIFA’s disciplinary authorities later lifted the suspension, enabling the striker to feature in Monday’s match.

The decision came after U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly appealed directly to Infantino on Balogun’s behalf, prompting criticism from European lawmakers who say football’s governing body compromised the integrity of its own rules.

In a joint statement, Members of the European Parliament Barry Andrews, Lara Wolters and Niels Fuglsang described the decision as “a disgrace and a perversion of justice,” arguing that changing the application of red-card suspensions during an ongoing tournament undermines confidence in the sport’s disciplinary system.

The lawmakers are calling on football associations across European Union member states to urge FIFA’s Ethics Committee to examine Infantino’s conduct. They want investigators to determine whether political pressure from the Trump administration influenced the reversal of Balogun’s suspension and to assess what they describe as other possible violations of FIFA’s principle of political neutrality, including the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize to Trump.

FIFA has maintained that the decision to overturn Balogun’s suspension was made independently by its disciplinary committee.

According to the lawmakers, support for the initiative is growing, with 35 members of the European Parliament already backing the proposal.

“The beauty of sport lies in the consistent and transparent application of its rules,” the statement said. “When political influence determines who is eligible to compete, the principle of fairness is fundamentally weakened.”

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News

Sri Lanka dominate Ceylon Masters with 36 gold medals

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Sri Lankan shuttle experts recorded a majestic dominance at the claiming a record overall tally of 137 medals at the CMB Masters International Badminton Championships 2026, successfully held at the AIR Sports Complex in Rajagiriya. Out of the total Sri Lanka won a straight tally of 101 medals through their experienced shuttlers, while the remaining 36 were added from collaborations in Doubles with shuttlers from other nations.

From the tally of 101, Sri Lanka claimed 22 gold, 27, silver and 52 bronze medals to lead the medals tally at the end of the five-day competition held with the participation of over 500 leading Masters’ shuttlers representing 15 countries. India finished overall second with 65 medals – 19 each of gold and silver and 27 bronze medals.

Malaysia finished behind at third with nine medals, three each of gold and bronze and a silver to their tally. Chinese Taipei, China, Nepal, Switzerland, UAE, France, Australia and Indonesia followed in behind one another to complete the medal board, while certain nations claimed medals from Doubles events collaborating with shuttlers from other countries.

Among the standout performers for Sri Lanka were Niroshan Wijekoon, Nadeesha Gayanthi, Renu Chandrika de Silva, Thushari Brahmanage, Niluka Karunaratne, Rohan de Silva, Hasitha Chanaka, Duminda Jayakody and Deshani Bandara, who were among a host of local players to produce outstanding performances throughout the tournament. Many of the leading Sri Lankan competitors are former national players who represented the country during their prime, while several are former national champions. Their continued success highlighted the depth of experience and enduring quality within Sri Lanka’s Masters badminton circuit.

The strong participation of overseas players also reflected the growing appeal of the event on the international calendar. Players from 15 countries competed in the championships, reinforcing Sri Lanka’s potential to develop sports tourism by hosting major international Masters events.

The CMB International Badminton Championships 2026, organised by Ceylon Masters Badminton (CMB), also received strong backing from the corporate sector. Some of the country’s leading companies, including McLarens Group, Mobil, Prime Group, 3M, Cool Max, Iodex, Li-Ning, Hundred, RovinAds, Seylan Bank, Sampath Bank, HNB Finance, Ceylon Biscuits Ltd, Mr. FixIt, McFoil and Elite Badminton, stepped forward as sponsors, playing a key role in the successful staging of the tournament.

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Cricket

Sooryavanshi fireworks see India ‘A’ thump Sri Lanka to clinch title

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A breathtaking assault from teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi powered India ‘A’ to a commanding 66-run victory over Sri Lanka ‘A’ in the final of the Tri-Series 2026, as the visitors lifted the title in emphatic fashion.

After being asked to bat, India ‘A’ piled up a daunting 377 for 9 in their 50 overs, thanks largely to Sooryavanshi’s explosive 94 off just 29 balls. The left-hander unleashed a stunning display of power-hitting, smashing 10 fours and eight sixes at a remarkable strike rate of 324.13.

Together with Priyansh Arya, who made a brisk 39, he put on 132 runs for the opening wicket in less than nine overs, leaving the Sri Lankan bowlers reeling.

Although Sooryavanshi fell agonisingly short of a century, India maintained the momentum through Ruturaj Gaikwad (40) and captain Tilak Varma, who anchored the middle overs with a well-compiled 67. Kumar Kushagra contributed 36, while Anukul Roy provided a late flourish with an unbeaten 39 from just 15 deliveries, including four sixes.

For Sri Lanka, Wanuja Sahan was the most economical bowler and claimed two wickets, while Ravindu Fernando and Kugathas Mathulan also picked up two scalps each.

Faced with a formidable target, Sri Lanka ‘A’ launched a spirited chase but were eventually bowled out for 311 in 47.1 overs. Sadeera Samarawickrama led the resistance with an attractive 52 off 44 balls, while Wanuja Sahan produced a fighting 62. Captain Sahan Arachchige chipped in with 38 and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth added 39, but the required rate continued to climb.

India’s bowlers struck at regular intervals, with Yash Thakur and Vipraj Nigam claiming three wickets apiece. Anukul Roy supported well with two wickets as Sri Lanka’s challenge faded in the closing stages.

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