Srilanka

An island-wide beach clean-up project, organized by the Sri Lanka Army as one of its core Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in close coordination with the Marine Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA) that relates to the National Coastal and Marine Resources Conservation programme worked off Sunday morning (29) with more than 2300 troops joining hands together with volunteers and state employees round the country.The Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, the architect of the project along with his two daughters, several Senior Officers and Other Ranks was at the Crows Island (Kaaka Dupatha) beach in Muttuwal, Modera to flag off the mega project, covering the coastal belt around the country.

Diverging views are emerging from the highest sports authorities in the country on what constitutes success in a multi-discipline event such as the South Asian Games (SAG), despite Sri Lanka bagging a record haul of 251 medals at the 13th edition in Nepal.The tug-o-war between the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Ministry of Sports continues unabated as the debate intensifies as to who should be given credit for winning medals or blamed for the missed opportunities.

-Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has ordered the Tourism Development Authority for an immediate report on the incident of three tourists leaving the country after making a complaint to the police.Reportedly, three tourists from the Netherlands had been staying at a hotel in Dambulla for which they have paid Rs 60,000.

Netball queen Tharjini Sivalingam was adjudged the Most Popular Sports Personality of the Year at the fifth annual SLT SILK Sports Awards ceremony which was held at the BMICH last week.&During my 10-year international netball career I have received so many awards but this award is very special because this one was a peoplechoice. So I must thank SPORTSINFO the organizers and the sponsors Sri Lanka Telecom who have done a wonderful job for the fifth consecutive year,& said Tharjini.It also earned her the Tallest Netballer on the Planet title.

Sri Lanka Telecom Chairman Kumarasinghe Sirisena the special guest of honour at this event said that SLT was always happy to be involved in sports and hopes to continue with the ‘SILK Sports Awards annually&.&SLT is always willing to make a generous contribution to sports always and has plans to conduct the SLT sports festival again after a laps of 22 years,& added Sirisena. Arjuna Ranatunga the captain of the 1996 World Cricket Cup winning team was the chief guest at the ceremony. He pointed out the importance of a national sports policy to will help uplift the standard of sports in the country..&When the Sports Minister is changed there are changes in so many departments in the ministry, but the sports policy should remain the same for sports to progress,& said Ranatunga who himself was the recipient of the Duncan White award five years ago.A veteran national sports administrator Sunil Jayaweera was recognized with a prestigious SLT SILK Lifetime Achievement Award.

Former Sri Lankan cricketer and ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama was also bestowed with the ‘Duncan White Award for Sports Excellence - Contribution&. Kumara Dharmasena the ICC elite panel cricket umpire won the award for the most outstanding contribution to international sports.Sri Lankapromising swimmer, Matthew Abeysinghe, the SAG seven gold medallist won the ‘Outstanding Sports Personality of the Year award while Nalanda cricket captain Laksitha Manasinghe was named as the Outstanding School Sports Personality of the year, following his record breaking performances in 2019. Abeysinghe is currently training in the USA and was not present to receive the award.The Special Jury was co-headed by Harsha Abeykoon and Rear Admiral Dr. Shemal Fernando.

Recipients of Major Sporting Awards:

SLT SILK Most Popular Sports Personality of the Year & Tharjini Sivalingam

SLT SILK Lifetime Achievement Award & Sunil Jayaweera

Duncan White Award for Sports Excellence - Contribution & Roshan Mahanama

SLT SILK Sportsman of the Year & Matthew Abeysinghe

SLT SILK Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sports Journalism & Dinesh Weerawansa

SLT SILK Outstanding School Sports Personality of the Year & Lakshitha Manasinghe

SLT SILK Team of the Year & Sri Lanka Deaf Cricket Team

SLT SILK Award for Outstanding Contribution to International Sports & Kumara Darmasena

SLT SILK Award for Outstanding Coach of the Year & RB Wickramasinghe

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