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| Saturday, 6 November 2004 |
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Lanka invited for soccer friendly (N.U. Abdul Razzak reporting from the Maldives) The "Haveeru", the popular daily of the Maldives marking its twenty- fifth anniversary has invited the Sri Lankan National football Team for an international soccer friendly encounter with the Maldivian National Squad to be staged on 18 December 2004 at the National Stadium in Male'. This clash will determine the rankings of both Sri Lanka and the Maldives who have shown tremendous improvement and promise in the on going world cup qualifiers. The Secretary General of the Football Association of Maldives (F.A.M) Ibrahim Ismail told that F.A.M. is closely working with the Asian Football Confederation (F.A.M) for the organization of this grand event. This match will be telecast throughout the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India to create more awareness and to enhance the promotion of the game. The FIFA Development Officer and the Former President of the Sri Lankan Football Federation Manilal Fernando is invited to be the chief guest of this fixture and he will also grace a special ceremony where the award for the competition- Footballer of the Year, Golden Boot Award and the Volleyballer of the Year of the Maldives will be featured. This function will be held on 19th December 2004. The "Haveeru" founded in 1979 has been in the fore front of promoting sports particularly soccer with the presentation of these three annual awards for many years. The Golden Boot Award marks the 10th anniversary this year and the "Haveeru " is geared up to hold a colourful ceremony. Sri Lanka who are ranked 141 are one point ahead of the Maldives in the FIFA rankings has got two points with two draws in the present world cup qualifiers while the hosts the Maldives stand above Lanka in this Qualifier with four points with a win and a draw. Tiny Maldives trounced Vietnam by 3-0 in their last outing played in Male' besides getting a creditable goalless draw against the soccer giants the South Koreans. However the hosts Maldives and Sri Lanka are scheduled to face their acid test as they are billed to take on South Korea and Saudi Arabia in their return legs to be played away from home to be staged in Seoul and Riyadh respectively. The Haveeru newspapers have won the T.V. rights for this match and expects the Sri Lankan business community to make use of this opportunity to advertise their products and services to get a trading in the Maldives. The Haveeru publishers also publishes the Maldives' only English Journal (weekly) the "Evening Weekly." The Maldives last met Sri Lanka in 2002 in the Peace Match held in Jaffna. This match ended in a 1-1 all draw giving victory to the masses of Jaffna. |
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