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Thirty-year record, Sri Lanka beats Australians and sealed the series with one match to spare!!
The fourth ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia was played yesterday at the R Premadasa Stadium. The opening two matches of the previous three matches were played in Pallekele and the third match was played in Colombo. Despite losing the tournament’s first match, “Yaksha Pataw” returned to the Premadasa Stadium today with a vital victory momentum by winning the second and third matches and preparing for a record victory.
After winning the ODI series between the two countries in Australia in 2012 against Australia, Sri Lanka has not been able to defeat them so far. Also, the Sri Lankan team has not been able to defeat the Kangaroos in Sri Lanka since 1992.
The Australians won the toss and elected to field. Wanindu Hasaranga was named in the Sri Lanka squad to replace the injured Dushmantha Chameera with only one change Sri Lanka came to the match.
Even though Sri Lankans lost three wickets for 34 runs, Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva put on 101 for the fourth wicket. Dhananjaya scored 60 off 61 balls while Charith scored his maiden ODI century scoring 110 off 106 balls. At the end of 49 overs, Sri Lanka was all out for 258 and set a target of 259 for Australians.
Although in the chase Chamika Karunaratne did not allow Australia to get off to a flourishing start, David Warner was able to stay on the pitch at one end and establish a stable partnership from time to time, pushing the victory towards Australia. However, the Sri Lankan bowlers were able to take wickets from the other end of the pitch whereas Warner alone at one end. Chamika Karunaratne took two wickets for 19 runs in five overs, with each spinner taking at least one wicket to put pressure on the Australians.
Sri Lankan bowlers set a target of 19 runs in the final over to win the match, the skipper Dasun Shanaka took the responsibility on his own to bowl the final over of the match. The Australians scored only 14 off the first five balls of the final over and expected to score 5 runs in the final ball. Fortunately, Dasun was able to get rid of the final wicket of the match in the last ball the match and seal the match and series. Sri Lanka won the match by 4 runs. Sri Lanka won the five-match ODI series 3-1 with one match to spare.

තිස් වසරක වාර්තාවක් අලුත් වේ, ශ්රී ලංකාව ඕස්ට්රේලියානුවන්ව වේලාසනම පරදවයි.
ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඕස්ට්රේලියාව අතර පැවත්වෙන සිව්වන එක්දින තරඟය අද කොළඹ ආර්. ප්රේමදාස ක්රීඩා පිටියේදී පැවත්විණි. මීට පෙර පැවති තරඟ ත්රිත්වයෙන් ආරම්භක තරඟ ද්විත්වය පල්ලෙකැළේදීත් තෙවන තරඟය කොළඹදීත් පැවත්විණි. තරඟාවලියේ පළමු තරඟය පරාජයට පත් වූවත් දෙවන සහ තෙවන තරඟ ජයග්රහණය කරමින් ප්රබල අන්දමින් නැවත තරඟාවලි ජයක් පෙනෙන මානයට අවතීර්න වූ “යක්ෂ පැටව්” අද ප්රේමදාස පිටියට පැමිණියේ වාර්තාගත ජයක් සඳහා සූදානමින්.
ඕස්ට්රේලියානුවන්ට එරෙහිව ඕස්ට්රේලියාවේදීම 2012 වසරේදී දෙරට අතර එක්දින තරඟාවලිය ජයගැනීමෙන් පසු මේ වන තෙක් ශ්රී ලංකාවට ඔවුන්ව පරාජය කිරීමට හැකි වී නොතිබිණි. එමෙන්ම 1992 වසරෙන් පසු මෙරටදී කැන්ගරුවන්ව පරාජය කිරීමටද ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමට හැකියාවක් ලැබී නොතිබිණි.
තීරණාත්මක සිව්වන තරඟයේ කාසියේ වාසිය ඕස්ට්රේලියානුවන් හිමි කරගත් අතර ප්රථමයෙන් පන්දු රැකීමට ඔවුන් තීරණය කළහ. ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම එක් වෙනස්කමක් පමණක් සිදු කරමින් වනිඳු හසරංගව සංචිතයට කැඳවා තිබුණේ ආබාධයට ලක් වූ දුෂ්මන්ත චමීර වෙනුවටයි.
ආරම්භයේදීම ප්රබල තරඟයක් ලබාදුන් ඕස්ට්රේලියානු පිළ ශ්රී ලංකාවේ මුල් පෙළ පිතිකරුවන් තිදෙනාම මුලු ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව 34ක් වන විට ක්රීඩාගාරයට හරවා යැවූ අතර සිව්වන කඩුල්ල සඳහා ලකුණු 101ක සබඳතාවක් පිහිටවීමට චරිත් අසලංක සහ ධනංජය දි සිල්වාට හැකි විය. ධනංජය පන්දු 61න් ලකුණු 60ක් ලබාගද්දී චරිත් සිය මංගල එක්දින ශතකය වාර්තා කරේ පන්දු 106ට ලකුණු 110ක් රැස් කරමින්. පන්දුවාර 49ක් අවසානයේ සියල්ලන් දැවී ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම ලකුණු 258ක් රැස් කරගත් අතර ඕස්ට්රේලියානුවන්ට හිමි වූ ඉලක්කය ලකුණු 259ක්.
ඕස්ට්රේලියාවට සාර්ථක ආරම්භයක් ලබාගැණීමට චාමික කරුණාරත්න ඉඩ ලබා නොදුන්නත් ඩේවිඩ් වෝර්නර් එක් අන්තයක සිටිමින් විටින් විට ස්ථාවර සබඳතා පිහිටුවීමට සමත් වූයේ ජයග්රහනය ඕස්ට්රේලියාව වෙත නැඹුරු කරම්නින්. කෙසේවෙතත් එක් අන්තයක වෝනර් තනිකරම්නින් අනෙක් අන්තයෙන් කඩුලු දවාගැනීමට ශ්රී ලංකා පන්දු යවන්නන්ට හැකියාව ලැබුණි. විශිෂ්ට පන්දු යැවීමක නිරත වූ චාමික කරුණාරත්න පන්දුවාර 5ක් ලකුණු 19ට යොමු කරමින් තීරණාත්මක කඩුලු ද්විත්වයක් බිඳ හෙලූ අතර කණ්ඩායමේ සෑම දඟ පන්දු යවන්නෙක්ම එක් කඩුල්ලක් බැගින් හෝ රැගෙන ඕස්ට්රේලියානු පිළට පීඩනයක් එල්ල කිරීමට සමත් වූහ.
තරඟයේ අවසන් පන්දුවාරයට ලකුණු 19ක ඉලක්කයක් ඕස්ට්රේලියානු පිළට හිමි වූ අතර එම පන්දුවාරය යොමු කීරීමේ වගකීමලබාගත්තේ නායක දසුන් ශානක විසින්ය. අවසන් පන්දුවාරයේ ප්රථම පන්දු 5ට ලකුණු 14ක් රැස් කරගැනීමට ඕස්ට්රේලියානුවන් සමත් වූ අතර අවසන් පන්දුවට හිමි වූ ඉලක්කය ලකුණු 5ක්. අවසන් පන්දුවෙන් ඕස්ට්රේලියානු අවසන් කඩුල්ල දවාගනිමින් තරඟය අවසන් මොහොතේ ජයග්රහණය කිරීමට ශ්රී ලංකා පිළට හැකියාව ලැබුණේ ලකුණු 4න්. මේ අනුව තරඟ 5න් සමන්විත එක්දින තරඟාවලිය එක් තරඟයක් ඉතුරු කරමින්ම 3-1ක් ලෙස ජයග්රහණය කළේ ශ්රී ලංකා කන්ඩායමයි.

முப்பது வருட சாதனை, ஆஸ்திரேலியர்களை வீழ்த்தி ஒரு போட்டி மீதம் உள்ள நிலையில் தொடரை கைப்பற்றிய இலங்கை!!
இலங்கை மற்றும் அவுஸ்திரேலியா அணிகளுக்கு இடையிலான நான்காவது ஒருநாள் போட்டி நேற்று ஆர் பிரேமதாச மைதானத்தில் நடைபெற்றது. முந்தைய மூன்று போட்டிகளின் தொடக்க இரண்டு போட்டிகள் பல்லேகலவிலும் மூன்றாவது போட்டி கொழும்பிலும் நடைபெற்றது. போட்டியின் முதல் போட்டியில் தோல்வியடைந்த போதிலும், இரண்டாவது மற்றும் மூன்றாவது போட்டிகளில் வெற்றி பெற்று சாதனை வெற்றிக்கு தயாராகி இன்றியமையாத வெற்றி வேகத்துடன் “யக்ஷா படவ்” இன்று பிரேமதாச மைதானத்திற்கு திரும்பியது.
கடந்த 2012ஆம் ஆண்டு அவுஸ்திரேலியாவுக்கு எதிராக இரு நாடுகளுக்கும் இடையில் அவுஸ்திரேலியாவில் இடம்பெற்ற ஒருநாள் தொடரை கைப்பற்றிய இலங்கையினால் இதுவரை அவர்களை தோற்கடிக்க முடியவில்லை. மேலும், 1992ஆம் ஆண்டு முதல் இலங்கையில் கங்காருக்களை இலங்கை அணியால் தோற்கடிக்க முடியவில்லை.
டாஸ் வென்ற ஆஸ்திரேலிய அணி பந்து வீச்சை தேர்வு செய்தது. இலங்கை அணியில் காயம் அடைந்த துஷ்மந்த சமீரவுக்கு பதிலாக வனிந்து ஹசரங்க ஒரே ஒரு மாற்றத்துடன் இலங்கை அணியில் சேர்க்கப்பட்டார்.
இலங்கை அணி 34 ஓட்டங்களுக்கு 3 விக்கெட்டுகளை இழந்திருந்தபோதும் சரித் அசலங்கா மற்றும் தனஞ்சய டி சில்வா ஆகியோர் நான்காவது விக்கெட்டுக்காக 101 ஓட்டங்களை குவித்தனர். தனஞ்சய 61 பந்துகளில் 60 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார், சரித் தனது முதல் ஒருநாள் சதத்தை 106 பந்துகளில் 110 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார். 49 ஓவர்கள் முடிவில் இலங்கை அணி 258 ரன்களுக்கு ஆல் அவுட்டாகி ஆஸ்திரேலிய அணிக்கு 259 ரன்கள் இலக்காக நிர்ணயித்தது.
துரத்தலில் சாமிக்க கருணாரத்ன அவுஸ்திரேலியாவை செழுமையாக ஆரம்பிப்பதற்கு இடமளிக்காத போதிலும், டேவிட் வார்னர் ஒரு முனையில் ஆடுகளத்தில் நிலைத்து நின்று, அவ்வப்போது நிலையான இணைப்பாட்டத்தை ஏற்படுத்தி வெற்றியை அவுஸ்திரேலியாவை நோக்கித் தள்ளினார். இருப்பினும், இலங்கை பந்துவீச்சாளர்கள் ஆடுகளத்தின் மறுமுனையில் இருந்து விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்த முடிந்தது, அதே நேரத்தில் வார்னர் மட்டும் ஒரு முனையில் இருந்தார். சமிக கருணாரத்ன ஐந்து ஓவர்களில் 19 ஓட்டங்களுக்கு இரண்டு விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்தினார், ஒவ்வொரு சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளரும் குறைந்தது ஒரு விக்கெட்டையாவது வீழ்த்தி அவுஸ்திரேலிய அணிக்கு அழுத்தம் கொடுத்தார்.
கடைசி ஓவரில் 19 ரன்கள் கொடுத்தால் தோல்வி என்ற இலக்குடன் களமிறங்கிய இலங்கை கேப்டன் தசுன் ஷனக போட்டியின் இறுதி ஓவரை வீசும் பொறுப்பை தானே ஏற்றார். இறுதி ஓவரின் முதல் ஐந்து பந்துகளில் 14 ரன்கள் மட்டுமே எடுத்த ஆஸ்திரேலிய அணி, கடைசி பந்தில் 5 ரன்கள் எடுக்கும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்பட்டது. போட்டியின் கடைசி பந்தில் ஆட்டத்தின் இறுதி விக்கெட்டை வீழ்த்தி போட்டியையும் தொடரையும் தசுன் கைப்பற்றினார். இந்தப் போட்டியில் இலங்கை அணி 4 ரன்கள் வித்தியாசத்தில் வெற்றி பெற்றது. ஐந்து போட்டிகள் கொண்ட ஒருநாள் தொடரை ஒரு போட்டி எஞ்சியுள்ள நிலையில் 3-1 என இலங்கை கைப்பற்றியது.

Cricket
Feroza, Sidra guide Pakistan Women to comfortable win
Pakistan Women produced a composed batting performance led by Gull Feroza and Sidra Amin to register a five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka Women in the opening ODI of their tour after successfully chasing 211 with seven overs to spare.
After opting to bat, Sri Lanka struggled to build substantial partnerships despite several batters making useful contributions. Opener Vishmi Gunaratne gave the hosts a positive start with 28 off 38 deliveries, striking four boundaries before becoming the first of three victims for left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu.
Captain Chamari Athapaththu looked set for a bigger score, compiling an elegant 46 from 67 balls with six fours. She added 53 runs with Hasini Perera for the second wicket, but Nashra’s timely breakthrough halted Sri Lanka’s momentum.
Perera contributed a patient 35 while Kavisha Dilhari added another valuable 35 in the middle order. Nilakshika Silva remained unbeaten on 46 from 50 deliveries, ensuring Sri Lanka batted out their full quota of 50 overs to post 210 for nine.
Pakistan’s disciplined bowling attack shared the workload effectively. Nashra Sandhu finished with impressive figures of 3 for 42, while Tasmia Rubab claimed 2 for 34. Umm-e-Hani, Syeda Aroob Shah and captain Fatima Sana chipped in with a wicket apiece to keep the scoring under control.
In reply, Pakistan laid the foundation through Gull Feroza, who produced a fluent 78 off 77 balls, laced with 11 boundaries. She dominated the opening stand before being trapped leg before wicket by Kavisha Dilhari after steering her side into a commanding position.
Experienced batter Sidra Amin anchored the chase with a measured 57 from 94 deliveries, rotating the strike effectively while building partnerships that kept Pakistan comfortably ahead of the required rate. Ayesha Zafar then finished the job with an unbeaten 27, while Najiha Alvi contributed a useful 13.
Sri Lanka’s bowlers found occasional breakthroughs, with Dilhari returning 2 for 37, while Inoka Ranaweera, Chamari Athapaththu and Nimasha Meepage claimed one wicket each. However, the modest target never placed Pakistan under sustained pressure as they reached 211 for five in 43 overs to take an early lead in the series.
Brief Scores:
Sri Lanka Women 210/9 (50 overs) – Chamari Athapaththu 46, Nilakshika Silva 46; Nashra Sandhu 3/42, Tasmia Rubab 2/34. Pakistan Women 211/5 (43 overs) – Gull Feroza 78, Sidra Amin 57, Ayesha Zafar 27; Kavisha Dilhari 2/37.
Football
European Parliament Members Push for FIFA Inquiry Over Balogun Suspension Decision
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.”
News
Sri Lanka dominate Ceylon Masters with 36 gold medals
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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