Scintillating year for sport
Chris Dhambarage
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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