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THE PRESIDENCY - 4th Anniversary of the assumption of office President Mahinda Rajapaksa | www.dailynews.lk - Sri Lanka

Scintillating year for sport


President Rajapaksa congatulating world record breaking cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan

Sri Lanka lived upto expectations as a great sporting nation in the Asian region while making vast strides in the international scene both here and overseas in almost every game.

The most significant feature during this year was that some of the sports associations were able to take a huge step in achieving their ultimate goal of gaining recognition at every major international tournament.

This was mainly due to the untiring efforts of President Mahinda Rajapaksa whose passion for sport has lifted the entire nation towards a new era. The sports loving President has made immense contribution for the promotion and development of sports throughout the country.

In fact President Rajapaksa has been a versatile athlete during his day and later played an important role as the head of the national bodies for track and field and elle.

As the President of the Athletic Association (AA) of Sri Lanka he played a key role in reviving the career of star sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe who went on to win an Olympic medal for her country after 52 years.

It is quite clear that due to President Rajapaksa’s keenness to promote athletics that helped Sri Lanka to win a rich harvest of medals at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and South Asian Games. And it was quite appropriate that he became the only IAAF Member Federation President in the World to become a Head of State.

Another significant feature during this year has been the outstanding performances displayed by the sportsmen and sportswomen of the three armed forces. Leading from the front is mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka Army Sports Club who made a sensational entry into international cricket.

Mendis almost single handed helped Sri Lanka to clinch the Asia Cup cricket title with a destructive spell of bowling against a star studded Indian batting line up at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Sri Lanka also stamped their class in the longer version of the game by reaching the number two position in the ICC Rankings for the first time since gaining Test status. This was a tremendous achievement considering the fact that the country had limited opportunities against some of the top test playing nations.

The huge success of ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on the field was another reason for Sri Lanka to achieve many milestones during this period in all forms of the game. After shattering Shane Warne’s record for the most number of wickets in Test cricket, Muralitharan followed up by becoming the most successful bowler in one day cricket.

This means that Muralitharan is the proud holder of two individual World records on the cricket field, a feat that will not be matched by anyone for quite some time. The Sri Lankan cricket team certainly maintained their consistency and also emerged runners up at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England.

Sri Lanka may have come out as the second best team in this tournament but there was one player who was able to gain world focus simply for his innovative style of batting. Dashing opener Tillekeratne Dilshan had the cricketing world on his palm for two weeks of pure entertainment that helped him to win the Player of the Series Award.

Sri Lanka Cricket received another boost when it was granted the opportunity of hosting a semifinal match of the 2011 ICC World Cup in Colombo. Sri Lanka as a co host nation will conduct a total of 12 matches across three venues during this period.

As a result two new cricket stadiums will be constructed in Hambantota and Pallekelle in addition to the Khettarama Stadium which will certainly be a tremendous boost for the promotion and development of tourism in this country.

The Sri Lankan young cricketers performed even better with a scintillating performance down under where they overcame Australia 3-2 in a five match one day youth international series.

Their success of course was a build up for the up coming ICC Under 19 Youth World Cup to be staged in New Zealand where Sri Lanka will be a strong contender for the title.

The game of football also took a new leaf during this period with the construction of a series of fully fledged stadiums in Kalutara, Colombo, Mannar and Ampara through the courtesy of FIFA, AFC and Basel FC from Switzerland.

In fact President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the chief guest for the opening ceremony in Kalutara when he declared open the Vernon U. Fernando Sports Complex. It turned out to be a memorable occasion as he had earlier participated in the opening ceremony of the first phase of this stadium as the Prime Minister four years ago.

Meanwhile another proud soldier and a promising athlete Chaminda Wijekoon created history when he won a gold medal for his excellent performance in the men’s 1500 metres event at the Lusafonia Games held in Lisbon this year.

In the boxing ring women boxers came into recognition with Nilmini Jayasinghe winning a gold medal at the World championships in Petersburg, Russia.

This was followed by another pleasing effort from Anusha Kodituwakku who bagged a bronze medal at the Women’s Indoor Games held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The sportsmen and sportswomen of Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club also contributed a great amount towards maintaining Sri Lanka’s image as a popular sporting nation in the region. The very latest effort came in the form of Prasanna Peiris who won a silver medal in the bantam weight category at the World bodybuilding championships held in Doha, Qatar.

This was after three Sailors had put up a gallant display to win two silver and one bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games weightlifting championships staged in Malaysia.

The Sri Lanka netball team also brought glory to the country by winning the Asian championships with a dazzling performance in Malaysia. Their success had a great amount of significance considering the fact that the last time they won this event was way back in 2002.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka rugby team had the satisfaction of securing the third place at the Five Nations Division One tournament held in Dubai. Despite going in as the underdogs the Lankans produced a stunning performance to register impressive victories against Thailand and Singapore respectively.

Sri Lanka came from behind to beat a strong Thailand outfit by 51 points to 17 points after having lost the opening fixture against Chinese Taipei 24-36.

This was a tremendous achievement considering the fact that the players had just one day of preparations ahead of this tournament which was considered as a qualifier for the World Cup.

Sri Lanka also managed to collect a bonus point from the game against Chinese Taipei by virtue of scoring four tries which was a great effort indeed.


The President’s Words...

’Sri Lanka believes, as one of the founder members of the Human Rights Council, that human rights are too important to be used as a tool to victimize States for political advantage. It is essential that international action to facilitate compliance with human rights standards is fair and even handed. Human rights have to be protected and advanced for their own sake, not for political gain.’

- 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York on September 25, 2007

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