Ranatunga to face firing squad

By Lal Gunasekera

The discloses made by Arjuna Ranatunga, MP who is also the Chairman of the Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) pertaining to various acts of corruption not only at SLC, but also of financial irregularities in the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka on monies received for Tsunami aid from several donors in 2004, is to come under the microscope of the Minister of Sports and Public Recreation, Gamini Lokuge.

Minister Lokuge held a discussion with the Interim Committee Members of SLC on Thursday, but Ranatunga, who made these allegations on Wednesday in parliament, was not present at the meeting on Thursday with Minister Lokuge. Ranatunga had left for India, which was his 18th overseas visit since his appointment as Chairman of the Interim Committee for SLC.

Ranatunga boldly said in Parliament that some of the Interim Committee members of SLC who were appointed before he took over as Chairman are corrupt to the core.

If this allegation is true, then those members of the Interim Committee should resign forthwith or come out openly and prove their innocence.

In Ranatunga's "long innings" in Parliament on Wednesday, he referred to financial irregularities running into millions of rupees at SLC during the last few years, NOC swindling over US $1 million worth of tsunami aid and the financial irregularities involving the hosting of the Asian Athletic Championship in Colombo in 2002 and also the 2006 South Asian Games.

Ranatunga accused the Ministry of Sports of turning a blind eye on corruption and not taking any action. He also commented on laws that have been changed to extend the period in office of NOC officials. He also spoke about a "Mafia" trying to take control of cricket in the country.

Minister Lokuge said that "SLC has gone out of control" and that he will rectify it soon. The two solutions were to either appoint another Interim Committee or hold an annual general meeting.

"Ranatunga has to answer certain questions and I will take the necessary steps thereafter to dissolve SLC or not. Explanations are also to be called from Guy de Alwis. Now, he had gone to Dubai without my approval. He did the same when he went to India a few weeks ago for an ICC meeting. I have asked the Interim Committee not to release any monies to de Alwis as expenses not approved by them" said Minister Lokuge.

What worries all genuine sports lovers in the country is the stand taken by Ranatunga to criticize the honesty and integrity of those who have served the NOC and SLC during the last few years.

"Ranatunga will have to prove these allegations without any doubt, and he cannot take cover behind Parliamentary privilege, and get away after making these serious allegations" said a reputed and honest former Sports Ministry official.

Ranatunga himself has faced a lot of flak over his family's involvement with SLC, building a hostel for outstation cricketers after Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996, "match fixing" allegations on the tour of Indian 1994, assault on some Asoka Vidyalaya students in 2001 and the insurance scam on the Indian Tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year.

The meeting schedule for Friday between Minister Lokuge and the Interim Committee of SLC was called off at the last moment after Ranatunga had sent a letter from India.

Wasted chance to join the big league

DEPENDING who you speak to, opinions on Sri Lanka's performance at the Asian Nations Rugby Championship, concluded last week in Chinese-Taipei, will differ widely.

Before sampling those opinions, let's first spread out the score-sheet: played 2 matches, one draw and one defeat; placed third out of three. That record may not make nice reading. A closer examination of the results, however, tells a story less unpleasant. Singapore, the eventual champions, were held to a 20/20 draw, an outcome which the charitable among us might construe to mean that we're as good as the no.1 team in Asia's first division - and the subsequent 23/35 defeat to host Chinese-Taipei, unfortunately, might've been an "off day''. Opinion 1: Creditable in defeat.

The less-charitable among us won't see it that way. They'll point out the pre-event rankings had Sri Lanka as favourites, and was indeed anointed the tournament's top seed. As well, even before the event kicked-off, their championship cause was helped by the withdrawal of China, a serious challenger. Given all that, detractors will say, Sri Lanka should've finished nothing less than as champs. Opinion 2: Disgraced in defeat.

Those views, as you might guess, are politically coloured. It must not be forgotten that the nasty exchanges in the highly-publicized controversy over captaincy left two opposing factions- one in favour of Dushantha Lewke as captain and the other, against. The minister's eventual decision to appoint a second captain - Dilanka Wijesekera - didn't help temper the bitterness. So, sure the two camps' views on our performances were always going to be as different as night and day.

It has to be said, though, that each view isn't entirely blinded by bias. The performance against Singapore, including 11 expatriates, is commendable given that our players took the field only some ten hours after a 12-hour journey, hardly enough hours to shake off jet-lag let alone acclimatize to wintry conditions. But the Sri Lankans proved a doughty lot; six minutes to the end, the islanders led the eventual champs 20/10, but a combination of weariness and bad luck (a 25-m. penalty hitting the woodwork) set in and a draw had to be settled for.

"If we had won against Singapore, which we should've, our confidence for the next game (against the host) would've been at peak. I am not saying that the job we eventually were left to do, beating Chinese-Taipei by a two point margin (to win the championship) was beyond us,'' says Chaminda Rupasinghe, the tour selector, "but once an early lead was conceded, the task began to get ahead of us. On reflection, had we won over Singapore, that would've made us table leaders - a position that might've inspired a greater fight back (against the home team). But with the gap widening to 6/27 by half time, and stand-off Costa leaving the field with a wrist injury, the game was as good as lost at the break.''

The detractors' camp will, of course, say the above remarks are an exercise in self-consoling. The bottom line, they'll claim, is we finished last when we were supposed to finish first - and that's inexcusable. and all because the team wasn't a full-strength national outfit.  

The detractors' point about winning the championship is only an assumption, albeit not a blithe one. Assumption, however, is not the same thing as certainty. But there's nothing nebulous about their claim that the team on duty wasn't the best. No fault of the selectors that we were represented by under-strength team, with about five of their selections- all players from the champion club - pulling out or allegedly feigning injury in protest of Lewke's appointment as captain, even for a match.

What might have been were the services of those Kandy SC players available is of course a matter that can be argued till the cows come home, but it is fair to say that the capabilities of any best team is better than that of the second-best. So it remains a matter for regret that Sri Lanka wasn't able to give its best shot - a regret our rugby might have to live with for a long, long time.

In nearly 40 years of participation in the premier Asian rugby competition, we were, perhaps, never more propitiously positioned for glory than in this one. Top seed status and the eleventh-hour withdrawal of China apart, our team had arrived at the ideal state: a blend of players with long experience and maturing young talent  with two-four seasons of international experience - the perfect, but transient  state, after which descent surely follows as some careers wind down. The iron was hot and it was time to strike. But alas, the best wasn't there and senselessly, a great chance was thrown into the bins.

It must be said, though, the hurriedly cobbled second-best team (two under 19 players were reportedly pulled out midway of their final match in the Junior Asiad in S.Korea and flown out to augment the senior squad in Chinese-Taipei), given the circumstances, far from disgraced themselves. Some union officials, in fact, hold the view that the boycott, mostly by seniors, was a blessing in disguise, and advocate the retention of the second-best as the national squad of the future.

There's much merit in that idea, but that won't bring back the lost opportunity to graduate to the big league and compete with Asia's best,  the likes of Japan, S.Korea and Hong Kong - an elevation which, with new demands to respond to, would've brought about a sea change in Sri Lanka rugby. Playing in the big league would've placed our rugby on quite another plateau, raising ambitions to finish among, say, for a start, the top four so that we continue to stay in highest league of Asian rugby.

There was a realistic chance all that might have been achieved last week in Chinese Taipei, but sadly the challenge went virtually un-attempted- all because vested interest in the captaincy took precedence over big league qualification.

Sure, Lewke's leadership appointment was questionable, but at some point the disputing parties should've sat down to resolve the issue and so provide adequate time for preparations to be conducted in a proper environment. As it turned out, days before departure the squad was again changed, and the changes were not those of the selection committee because a selection committee was non-existent, so raising questions about the legal status of the touring squad.  Mercifully, no one chose to question the legality of the squad in courts.

All that is past, and though the hope now is that rugby might be spared of controversies that impede the sport, the truth is factionalism that has long plagued the game can't be wished away. The battle between the Kandy SC and the Union, which has been at the centre of nearly all of the controversies, is a long and bitter one - and one that has gotten beyond the scope of commonsense to resolve. It is in the Sport Minister's powers to resolve, but he, like his predecessors, too won't for reasons best known to only them.

There's talk of re-writing the constitution, obviously, designed to put an end to rugby's feuding. But, I ask, could a new constitution have prevented the recent crisis, caused by the appointment as national caption the son of the SLRFU chief, and then fuelled by, not for the first time, the boycott of national duty by Kandy SC players - a crisis that might leave even the British Constitution helpless to offer answers.

So who ever authors the new constitution needs to be advised to include two clauses that might prevent a repeat of the recent crisis: 1/ children of candidates for union presidency shall not actively participate in rugby and 2/ boycott of national duty by players shall be banished from rugby.

Admittedly, the suggestion is ridiculous. But then Sri Lanka rugby is in such a ridiculous state that legislation to ensure commonsense conduct by officials isn't such a ridiculous idea after all.

Sri Lankasports.com Netball  Challenge on November 29-30

After a successful completion of the Second 'Sri Lanka Sports.com' Netball Challenge -Inter company Netball Championship, SportsLine Marketing (pvt) Limited planning to stage yet another fascinating tournament for the year 2008 for the third consecutive year on 29th  and 30th November  2008 at the National Youth Center Indoor Stadium, Maharagama.

Sri Lankasports.com Netball  Challenge is Co-Sponsored by Finance & Guarantee Group for the second consecutive year

"Sri Lanka Sports Netball Challenge " will be played once again on the innovative format introduced by the SportsLine Marketing (Pvt) Limited. The tournament will be played for Cup/Plate/Bowl and Shield Championships . It will  give more opportunities for experienced and up and coming teams to show their talents and compete in equal manner.

16 top teams representing prestigious companies in Sri Lanka expect to take part in this tournament in four groups and have the Blessing of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka . The 16 teams who have forwarded the entries has been grouped in to four pools of four.

Group A -Nations Trust Bank/Standard Chartered Bank/Plenty Foods (pvt) Ltd/HSBC

Group B -PABC Bank/Seylan Bank/Access International/Janashakthi Insurance

Group C - Star Garments/Sri Lanka Insurance/Commercial Bank/Soft Logic

Group D - Mobitel/Ceylon Biscuits/Ceylinco Group/David Peries Motor Co.

The tournament will begin at 8.a.m on both days (29th and 30th November) and the finals of the Shield/Bowl/Plate and Cup Championships will commence from 1.45 pm onwards on the last day 30th November.

Academy of Netball-Kotte headed by Ms Thilaka Jinadasa will provide the technical assistance for this tournament while Former Director of National Institute of Sports Science, Mr Yogananda Wijesundara will be the Tournament referee for the event

Media Contact - Hishan Welmilla -Editor in Chief www.srilankasports.com

More tournaments please -  pleads Mithun

By Lal Gunasekera

The Sri Lanka Golf Union (SLGU) must organize more tournaments in the country if its talented players are to improve and bring more honour to the country. Apart from the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship, the SLGU do not conduct any other competitions, although the clubs (Royal Colombo Golf Club, Nuwara-Eliya Golf Club and Victoria Golf and Country Resort) organize and conduct Monthly Medal events.

This was the candid statement made by young Mithun Perera, who won his second Sri Lanka Amateur Golf title at the picturesque Victoria G & CR course in Kandy last week.

Twenty-one-year-old Mithun Perera, who is following in the foot steps of his illustrious father, K.A. Nandasena Perera, speaking to The Sunday Leader said that in India alone they have about 13 tournaments in their circuit, and even Pakistan and Bangladesh Golf Unions conduct more tournaments than Sri Lanka. He said that there were good young players at the RCGC, NEGC and Victoria who hardly have an opportunity to show their skills in regular tournaments. He also commented on the lack of sponsor for the national team.

Mithun Perera, who first won the Sri Lanka amateur title in 2006 in Colombo by four strokes from the Bangladeshi, won the title this year in Kandy by two strokes from Pakistan's Ali Khan. Last year's champion Shahid Khan from Bangladesh was third this year. The Sri Lankan won over about 56 other top amateurs.

Mithun's father, Nandasena, won the Sri Lanka amateur title on three occasions (1988, 1989 and 1990) and a Silver Medal at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, China. He then turned professional after his success in China and played in the Japanese Circuit. However, arthritis, cut short his career, and is now engaged in coaching, at the RCGC.

Earlier this year, young Mithun, was fourth at the Bangladesh Amateur Championship in Dhaka in February, runner-up at the Pakistan Amateur Championship in Islamabad in April and seventh at the Malaysian Amateur Championship in May.

Last year (2007) was a memorable year for Mithun. He not only won the individual title at the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Golf Championship held in Nepal, but also helped Sri Lanka to win the team event too for the first time. The other two players in the side were Tissa Chandradasa and K. Prabagaran. Then in December, he won the East-India title in Kolkatta. Mithun was seventh in the Sri Lanka Amateur Championship in Colombo. He also played on the Indian Circuit last year in nine tournaments in Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Kolkotta etc.

Mithun, who is coached by his father, started his competitive golf in 2002 with club events, and has gone on to win numerous Monthly Medals and the RCGC Championship on three occasion (2004, 2006 and 2008). He was also second at the Hong Kong Amateur in 2005 and second at the Pakistan Amateur in Islamabad in 2006.

Mithun, works in the computer engineering section of East-West and is helped by Sanjeewa Wickramanayake in his golfing career. He said: I practice everyday from 7.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. at the RCGC and then go to work. I appreciate the assistance of the members at the RCGC and even the SLGU. I are presently playing with the valuable clubs (iron set and driver) presented to me by Janek Hidaramani.

Mithun is now practicing for the Asia Pacific Masters in China in January next year (2009) as well as for the Bangladesh Amateur Championship in Chittangong in February and the All-India Amateur Championship in Kolkatta.

The only son of Nandasena, Mithun has two sisters. The eldest, Nalika is a medical student in Russia, while the younger sister is a student at CMS College in Kotte.

Trinity win Roger Rodrigo Challenge Trophy

The 4th Inter School Rugby Sevens for the Roger Rodrigo Challenge Trophy organized by the Lanka Lions Sports Club Dubai was worked off at the Sharjah Wanderers Sports Club grounds recently. Trinity College beat Zahira in a nail biting cup final by 19 points to 7.

The touch rugby tournament which is part of Lanka Lions Sports Club's social calendar, has gained huge spectator interest throughout the last few years. A large number of Sri Lankan expatriates witnessed a super brand of rugby that was displayed by many former rugby stars who are now domiciled here. Dummies, Scissors, side steps and goose runs were all there in plenty, not forgetting the super ball handling skills that were displayed hardly killed any of the games. The tournament that was conducted from 10 am to 10 pm was worked to clockwork precision, run in a carnival atmosphere with professional first aid at hand throughout the tourney.

16 Schools took part this year and 19 teams registered in total, competed for the coveted plum. Besides the challenge trophy, the tournament was competed for the Plate, Bowl and the Spoon by the schools.

Executive Director SLRFU Dilroy Fernando and A.C.Tennekoon who were specially flown in to officiate in this event were ably assisted by Kelum Sujith Perera and Kevin Rasquinho.

Results: Cup Winners - Trinity 'A', Cup Runners up - Zahira, Plate Winners - Mahanama, Plate Runners up - Royal 'A', Bowl Winners - St. Peter's "B', Bowl Runners up - Wesley, 'A', Spoon Winners - Trinity 'B', Spoon Runners up - Colombo Schools

Army toil against Marians

Chandika Prasad hit a fighting half century (56) to help Sri Lanka Army SC reach 145 for 5 in their first innings on the opening day of their rain hit SLC Premier League Tier A tournament match against Chilaw Marians SC played at the FTZ grounds in Katunayake on Friday.

Scores: Army SC: 145 for 5 (C. Prasad 56, I. Karunatilleke 43, R. Dhammika 3 for 25) v Chilaw Marians SC

Cricket - Premier League

Rupasinghe - an elegant unbeaten 150

All rounder Gihan Rupasinghe hammered an unbeaten 150 and shared a vital eighth wicket stand of 118 runs with Umesh Wijesiriwardena as Tamil Union reached 294 for 9 in their first innings on the opening day of their SLC Premier League Tier A tournament match against Bloomfield which commenced at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium on Friday.

Scores: Tamil Union: 294 for 9 (G. Rupasinghe 150 n.o, U. Wijesiriwardena 37, T. Lakshitha 4 for 58, N. Fernando 2 for 68) v Bloomfield

CCC fight back strongly

CCC after being bowled out for 158 runs hit back strongly to reduce NCC to 56 for 4 in their first innings on the opening day of their SLC Premier League Tier A tournament match which got underway at Maitland Crescent on Friday

Scores: CCC: 158 (S. Pathirana 71, T. Mendis 36, N. Randhika 27, T. Kottahewa 4 for 33, K. Kulasekera 2 for 29, C. Komasaru 2 for 38, M. Gajanayake 2 for 14) NCC: 56 for 4 (C. Vidanapathirana 2 for 24)

Steady progress by Ragama

Middle order batsman Duminda Perera stroked an unbeaten 82 to help Ragama CC reach 225 for 6 in their first innings on the opening day of their SLC Premier League Tier A tournament fixture worked off at Braybrooke Place on Friday.

Scores: Ragama CC: 225 for 6 (S. Soysa 50, D. Perera 82 n.o, M. Bandara 25 n.o, N. Bandaratilleke 2 for 38) v Baduraliya CC

Navin four short of century

Navin Perera hit an unbeaten 96 to help the defending champions SSC reach 240 for 5 in their first innings on the opening day of their SLC Premier League Tier A tournament match which began at Maitland Place on Friday.

Scores: SSC: 240 for 5 (N. Perera 96 n.o, K. Silva 26, K. Lokuarachchi 46, D. Karunaratne 26 n.o, D. Perera 2 for 63) v Colts CC

Highlights of the week gone by...

Angelo Perera a swashbuckling 239

Peterite all rounder Angelo Perera rewrote history books at his alma mater in piling up a record knock of 239 runs against Nalanda College in their inter school U - 19 cricket encounter.

Pakistan crush Windies

Shoaib Malik's Pakistanis crushed West Indies 3 - 0 in their One Day International series played at Abu Dhabi.

Djokovic wins Masters Cup  

Novak Djokovic captured the high profile season ending Masters Cup by defeating Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the final. The victory took the Serbian within a mere 10 ATP points of dislodging Roger Federer from the No. 2 slot in the world rankings. Spain's Rafael Nadal is the World's top ranked player with 6675 Points.

Disappointing show by Sri Lankan ruggerites 

An under strength Sri Lanka National rugby team finished last at the Rugby Asiad Division I tournament concluded at Taipei. Sri Lanka drew with Singapore and lost to the host nation Chinese Taipeii. Nevertheless the Lankans escaped demotion with China being penalized for non-participation

Outright wins for Colts, Bloomfield and Baduraliya

Colts, Bloomfield and Baduraliya recorded outright victories in the opening round of games of the Premier League Cricket tournament held under the patronage of Sri Lanka Cricket ( SLC).

Argentina taste success under Maradona    

Argentina had the better of Scotland by a solitary goal under new coach Diego Maradona. The winning goal was scored by Maxi Rodriguez. In another international friendly England beat Germany by 2 goals to 1. 

Sri Lanka take first ODI

Sri Lanka defeated Zimbabwe by 6 wickets in the first of the five One Day Internationals at Bulawayo. The host nation was restricted to 127 runs with spinning duo of Muthiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis triggering a dramatic collapse. For the Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara top scored with an unbeaten 47 runs.

4th outright win for Dharmaraja

Dharmaraja College recorded their 4th outright win for the season by beating Sri Rahula Matara by an innings in their inter school under 19 Cricket encounter.        

- Compiled By Ranil Prematilake