Abayakoon writes ...

With reference to our article titled 'Abayakoon and company should be taken with a pinch of salt' which appeared on November 8 (Saturday) 2008, Rohan Abayakoon has sent the following clarification.

I write in connection to the above article written by you and hereby state that the said article is completely false, malicious and misleading.

I stand by the position I took in the press release made on the 1st of November 2008 and have not withdrawn my resignation as Chairman of the National Rugby Selection Committee.

The status quo as far as my resignation remains unchanged, over the same reason expressed in doing so and therefore your article contains nothing but falsehoods.

As a seasoned rugby correspondent mentioned in your said article in reference to an attribute I made at the press conference I would expect you to verify your facts before making such irresponsible and outlandish assertions.

I would expect this letter to be given the same prominence as the above article.

Reporter's Note-

Rohan Abayakoon refers to the above article as being completely false, malicious and misleading.

On the contrary, it was quite the opposite, as our intention was to put the record straight, as to the resignation of his Selection Committee and their decision to do a u-turn, according to the Minister of Sports Public Recreation, Gamini Lokuge.

You, state that you stand by the position you took in the press release made on the 1st of November 2008, and that you have not withdrawn your resignation as Chairman of the National Rugby Selection Committee.

Though, you may remain and stay resigned, what we were made to understand clearly by the Minister of Sports, when we contacted him on this issue was that you and your four co-selectors, have consented to return as selectors, after the Minister had contacted all of you, and our article was based on the same, and there was nothing more to it.

It was also our intention to enlighten the rugby-loving public of your decision to resign and then to return as selectors the latter which we were clearly told by the Minister.

Our article thus, falls way short of the charges levelled against it by Rohan Abyakoon, in fact it was constructive criticism, which we presume the Selection Committee headed by him is capable of and have the spunk to take on their stride.

We also would like to emphasise that the said article had no intention whatsoever of making irresponsible and outlandish assertions as stated by Abayakoon.