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Who delayed the announcement of Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup squad?
It was noticeable that many newspapers had reported that only the Sri Lankan squad was not announced until the last moment. On further investigation, it was reported that the Sri Lanka Selection Committee forwarded the 20-man squad for the approval of the Sports Minister on August 12. But until yesterday (19) it had not received approval.
However, last night (19) at 9.51 on his Twitter account, the Minister of Sports stated that the relevant news was not correct and that he was referred to him for the approval of the squad yesterday (19). It was further stated in the Twitter message that approval was given within an hour of receiving the named squad.
Last night (19) 9.54 making another note, the minister announced the official squad for this year’s Asian Cup breaking the tradition.
I completely refuse the allegation of the news published today (19) on some Media channels regarding the team that selected for Asia cup and I would like to say that I only received the documents today (19/08) and within 1 hour I gave my approval. @adaderanasin @NewsWireLK
— Roshan Ranasinghe (@R_A_Ranasinghe) August 19, 2022
However, Sri Lanka Cricket issued a statement in response to the minister’s announcement. The letter states that the Sri Lanka selection committee met on August 10 and named the squad for the Asian Cup and on August 12, the squad was sent to the Minister of Sports. The announcement further states that the letter indicating that Asitha Fernando and Pramod Madhushan were called up to the squad due to the injuries of two players in the named squad was arranged to be given to the minister on August 16.
Meanwhile, in an announcement on the afternoon of August 20, the Ministry of Sports said that the Sri Lanka Cricket Board was delayed in giving the approval for the squad due to the fact that the documents to be provided along with the player pool were not properly provided.
Under the leadership of Dasun Shanaka, the Sri Lanka squad for the Asia Cup consists of 08 batsmen, 05 fast bowlers, 03 spinners and 04 all-rounders.
ආසියානු කුසලාන ශ්රී ලංකා සංචිතය ප්රකාශයට පත් කිරීම ප්රමාද කරණු ලැබුවේ කවුරුන්ද?
ශ්රී ලංකා සංචිතය පමණක් අවසන් මොහොත දක්වාම ප්රකාශයට පත් නොකිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පුවත්පත් රැසක්ම වාර්ථා කර තිබීම කැපී පෙනෙන්නට විය. මේ පිළිබද වැඩි දුරටත් සෙවීමේදී වාර්ථා වූයේ ශ්රී ලංකා තේරීම් කමිටුව 20 දෙදෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් සංචිතය අගෝස්තු මස 12 වැනිදා ක්රීඩා අමාත්යවරයාගේ අනුමැතිය සදහා යොමුකර ඇති බවයි. නමුත් ඊයේ (19) වන තෙක් එයට අණුමැතිය නොලැබී තිබූ බවයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ඊයේ (19) රාත්රියේ 9.51 සිය Twitter ගිණුමේ සටහනක් තබමින් ක්රීඩා අමාත්යවරයා, අදාල පුවත් නිවැරදි නොවන බවත් සංචිතයේ අනුමැතිය සදහා තමා වෙත යොමු කලේ ඊයේ (19) දින බවත් ප්රකාශකර තිබුණා. නම් කල සංචිතය ලැබී පැයක් ඇතුළත ඊට අනුමැතිය ලබා දුන් බවත් Twitter පණිවිඩයේ වැඩි දුරටත් සදහන් විය.
ඊයේ රාත්රියේ (19) 9.54 තවත් සටහනක් තබමින් අමාත්යවරයා මෙවර ආසියානු කුසලානයට එක්වන නිළ සංචිතය නිවේදනය කලේ සම්ප්රදායද බිද දමමින්ය.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ක්රිකට් ආයතනය විසින් අමාත්යවරයාගේ නිවේදනයට ප්රතිචාර දක්වමින් මෙලෙස නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරණු ලැබීය. එම ලිපියේ දැක්වෙන්නේ ශ්රී ලංකා තේරීම් කමිටුව අගෝස්තු මස 10 දින රැස්වී ආසියානු කුසලානය සදහා වන සංචිතය නම් කළ බවත් අගෝස්තු 12 වැනිදා එම සංචිතය ක්රීඩා අමාත්යවරයාගේ අණුමැතිය සදහා යොමු කළ බවයි. තවද නිවේදනයේ වැඩි දුරටත් සදහන් වන්නේ නම් කළ සංචිතයේ ක්රීඩකයන් දෙදෙනෙකු අබාධ වලට ලක්වීම නිසා අසිත ප්රනාන්දු හා ප්රමෝද් මධුෂාන් සංචිතයට කැදවූ බවත් දැක්වෙන ලිපිය අගෝස්තු 16 වැනිදා අමාත්යවරයාට ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළ බවයි.
මේ අතර අගෝස්තු මස 20 වැනිදා පස්වරුවේ නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් ක්රීඩා අමාත්යංශය පැවසුවේ ශ්රී ලංකා ක්රිකට් ආයතනය ක්රීඩක සංචියත් සමග ලබාදිය යුතු ලිපිගොණු හරියාකාරව ලබානොදීම නිසා සංචිතය සදහා අනුමැතිය ලබාදීමට ප්රමාද වූ බවයි.
දසුන් ශානකගේ නායකත්වයෙන් ආසියානු කුසලානයට එක්වන ශ්රී ලංකා සංචිතය පිතිකරුවන් 08ක්, වේග පන්දු යවන්නන් 05ක්, දග පන්දු යවන්නන් 03 දෙනෙකු හා තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩකයින් 04 දෙනෙකුගෙන් සමන්විතය.
ஆசியக் கோப்பைக்கான இலங்கை அணி அறிவிப்பை தாமதப்படுத்தியது யார்?
கடைசி நிமிடம் வரை இலங்கை அணி மட்டும் அறிவிக்கப்படவில்லை என்று பல பத்திரிகைகள் செய்தி வெளியிட்டிருந்ததை கவனிக்க முடிந்தது. மேலதிக விசாரணையில், இலங்கைத் தெரிவுக்குழு 20 பேர் கொண்ட அணியை விளையாட்டு அமைச்சரின் ஒப்புதலுக்கு ஆகஸ்ட் 12 ஆம் திகதி அனுப்பியுள்ளதாக தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஆனால் நேற்று (19) வரை அதற்கு உத்தரவு கிடைக்கவில்லை.
எவ்வாறாயினும் நேற்று (19) இரவு 9.51 மணியளவில் விளையாட்டுத்துறை அமைச்சர் தனது டுவிட்டர் கணக்கில், இது தொடர்பான செய்திகள் சரியானதல்ல எனவும், நேற்று (19) குழாமின் ஒப்புதலுக்காக தம்மிடம் பரிந்துரைக்கப்பட்டதாகவும் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார். பெயரிடப்பட்ட அணி கிடைத்த ஒரு மணி நேரத்தில் ஒப்புதல் வழங்கப்பட்டதாக ட்விட்டர் செய்தியில் மேலும் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
நேற்றிரவு (19) 9.54 க்கு மற்றுமொரு குறிப்பை முன்வைத்து, பாரம்பரியத்தை உடைத்து இந்த ஆண்டுக்கான ஆசிய கோப்பைக்கான உத்தியோகபூர்வ அணியை அமைச்சர் அறிவித்தார்.
எனினும் அமைச்சரின் இந்த அறிவிப்புக்கு பதிலளிக்கும் வகையில் கிரிக்கெட் நிறுவனம் அறிக்கை ஒன்றை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது. இலங்கைத் தெரிவுக்குழு ஆகஸ்ட் 10ஆம் திகதி கூடி ஆசியக் கிண்ணத்திற்கான அணியை அறிவித்ததாகவும், ஆகஸ்ட் 12ஆம் திகதி அந்த அணி விளையாட்டுத்துறை அமைச்சருக்கு அனுப்பப்பட்டதாகவும் அந்தக் கடிதத்தில் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. பெயரிடப்பட்ட அணியில் இரு வீரர்கள் காயமடைந்ததன் காரணமாக அசித பெர்னாண்டோ மற்றும் பிரமோத் மதுஷன் ஆகியோர் அணிக்கு அழைக்கப்பட்டதை சுட்டிக்காட்டும் கடிதம் ஆகஸ்ட் 16 ஆம் திகதி அமைச்சரிடம் வழங்குவதற்கு ஏற்பாடு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளதாக அந்த அறிவிப்பில் மேலும் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
இதற்கிடையில், ஆகஸ்ட் 20 ஆம் தேதி பிற்பகல் வெளியிட்ட அறிவிப்பில், வீரர் குழுவுடன் வழங்க வேண்டிய ஆவணங்கள் சரியாக இல்லாததால், இலங்கை கிரிக்கெட் வாரியம் அணிக்கான அனுமதியை வழங்குவதில் தாமதம் ஏற்பட்டதாக விளையாட்டு அமைச்சகம் தெரிவித்துள்ளது. வழங்கப்படும்.
தசுன் ஷனக்கவின் தலைமையில் ஆசியக் கிண்ணத்திற்கான இலங்கை அணியில் 08 துடுப்பாட்ட வீரர்கள், 05 வேகப்பந்து வீச்சாளர்கள், 03 சுழற்பந்து வீச்சாளர்கள் மற்றும் 04 சகலதுறை ஆட்டக்காரர்கள் உள்ளனர்.
Football
Uzbekistan Dominate Sri Lanka 10-0 in AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers
Colombo, June 29 – The Sri Lanka Women’s National Football Team suffered a crushing 10-0 defeat at the hands of Uzbekistan in their opening fixture of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers, exposing not only the performance gap on the field but also the deep-rooted structural failures off it.

From kickoff, Uzbekistan showcased their superiority with relentless attacking football, scoring five goals in each half. The match statistics tell a story of complete dominance:
- Shots on Target: 14 (Uzbekistan) vs 0 (Sri Lanka)
- Possession: 70% (Uzbekistan) vs 30% (Sri Lanka)
- Dangerous Attacks: 137 (Uzbekistan) vs 28 (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka managed only two shots in the entire match—none of which tested the opposition goalkeeper—while spending most of the game pinned back in defense.

However, beyond the scoreboard, this defeat highlights a more alarming truth: the lack of commitment to women’s football by local authorities. The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) has failed to organize a single women’s tournament domestically in recent years, and the squad selected for this major continental qualifier was chosen solely through a limited trial. There was no competitive platform or league for players to develop or prove themselves ahead of international duty.
This performance is not just a reflection of the players’ inexperience—it’s a direct consequence of administrative negligence. FFSL must take full responsibility for this embarrassing result, as it continues to send underprepared teams to international tournaments merely to safeguard its position, rather than genuinely investing in the development of Sri Lankan football.
Even more concerning is the silence from the Ministry of Sports. Despite the humiliating performances of the Under-20 team in the recent SAFF Championship and now the senior women’s team in the AFC qualifiers, no action has been taken, and no accountability has been demanded. The ministry’s indifference to these repeated failures raises serious questions about its role in ensuring sports governance and development in Sri Lanka.
As Sri Lankan football continues to struggle, it is clear that without structural change, genuine investment, and accountability, results like these will only continue.
News
Dialog Schools Rugby League Week 4: Powerhouses Dominate as Rivalries Intensify
The fourth week of the 2025 Dialog Schools Rugby League brought high-octane action across Colombo and Kandy, as traditional rugby giants asserted dominance while title ambitions sharpened. Here’s a round-up of the top matches that defined the week:
Trinity Outmuscles St. Joseph’s at CR & FC
Trinity College, Kandy, continued their unbeaten streak with a commanding 29-07 win over St. Joseph’s College, Maradana at the CR & FC grounds in Colombo. Trinity crossed the whitewash five times with 5 tries and 2 conversions, displaying explosive forward play and well-structured phases.
St. Joseph’s struggled to match Trinity’s physicality but managed a consolation try and conversion. At halftime, Trinity led 22-0, setting the tone early and maintaining control throughout.
Wesley Tames St. Peter’s in Tight Clash
At Havelock Park, Wesley College recorded a gritty 23-05 victory over St. Peter’s College. The Wesleyites scored 3 tries, 1 conversion, and added 2 penalties, proving their clinical edge under pressure.
St. Peter’s could only respond with a single try and failed to find rhythm. Wesley led 8-0 at the break and controlled territory effectively in the second half.
Isipathana Outguns Zahira in a High-Scoring Thriller
In one of the most entertaining matches of the weekend, Isipathana College edged out Zahira College 38-27 at Zahira Grounds. Isipathana scored 6 tries and 4 conversions, showcasing pace and creativity in attack.
Zahira fought back gallantly with 4 tries, 2 conversions, and a penalty, pushing the defending champions to the limit. At halftime, Isipathana led 26-8, and though Zahira launched a strong second-half rally, the Green Machine held on.
Royal Routs Vidyartha in Dominant Display
Royal College, Colombo, was at their clinical best as they overcame Vidyartha College, Kandy, 29-07 at the Royal Complex. The home side dotted down 5 tries and 2 conversions, demonstrating power rugby and slick handling.
Vidyartha managed a single converted try but struggled to contain Royal’s powerful forwards and rolling mauls. Royal led 12-7 at halftime before pulling away in the second half.
Looking Ahead
With teams like Trinity, Isipathana, and Royal continuing to impress, the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 is shaping up for a thrilling finish. Fans can expect tighter games and fierce battles as title dreams grow stronger.
Stay tuned with Sri Lankan Sports TV for full match reports, results, and exclusive school rugby coverage!
Athletics
Sri Lanka Shines at Thailand Open 2025 with 11-Medal Haul
The Sri Lankan athletics team wrapped up a remarkable campaign at the Thailand Open Athletics Championship 2025, securing an impressive 11 medals, including 6 golds, during the competition held from June 21 to 25 in Bangkok.
The Sri Lankan squad, made up of eight athletes—four men and four women—delivered standout performances across track and field events, making the nation proud on the international stage.
Leading the charge was Rusiru Chathuranga, who clinched double gold in the Men’s 800m and 1500m events. Vicknaraj Vakshan added to the tally with a gold in the 5000m and a silver in the 1500m, while W.K.L.A. Nimali matched that feat by claiming gold in the Women’s 800m and silver in the 1500m.
Madushani Herath showed her dominance in the field events, capturing gold in both the long jump and triple jump. Ayomal Akalanka earned silver in the Men’s 400m hurdles, and Wathsala Hapuarachchi took silver in the Women’s 100m hurdles. Safreen Ahmed contributed a bronze medal in the Men’s triple jump.
While seven out of eight athletes reached the podium, Amasha de Silva narrowly missed out, finishing fourth in the Women’s 100m final, showcasing a commendable performance.
The full team is expected to return to Sri Lanka today after a tour that highlights the depth of talent in local athletics and signals strong potential ahead of upcoming regional events
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