Category: Sports

June 27, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan won the Castrol Asian Batsman and Bowler award in test cricket at a function held in Karachi Friday. India’s Sourav Ganguly became the first recipient of the Castrol Asian Cricketer of the Year Award, a company statement said. “Ganguly has had a […]

LAHORE, June 26, 2008 (AFP) – Unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis took a career-best 5-22 to help Sri Lanka overcome a fighting United Arab Emirates by 142 runs in the final Group A match played at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday. Mendis triggered a collapse in the UAE batting ranks as the qualifiers lost eight […]

June 27, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Cricket, the island’s richest sporting body, said it has paid off its debts with proceeds from the sale of television rights for the forthcoming tour in the island by India. The board lost 11 million dollars when South Africa pulled out of a triangular one-day series in 2006, […]

KARACHI, June 25, 2008 (AFP) – Wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara hit a brilliant century to help Sri Lanka down Bangladesh by 131 runs in their Group A Asia Cup match here on Wednesday.The 30-year-old left-hander notched 101 for his seventh one-day hundred to propel the defending champions to 357-9 in their 50 overs before restricting […]

BEIJING, June 25, 2008 (AFP) – China has deployed surface-to-air missile batteries near its main Beijing Olympic venues as an apparent defence against airborne terror attacks on the Games.An AFP reporter on Wednesday saw a pair of missile batteries in clear view under camouflage netting in a grassy area in northern Beijing about one kilometre […]

LAHORE, June 26, 2008 (AFP) – Mahela Udawatte and Mahela Jayawardene scored half-centuries for Sri Lanka as they posted 290-9 against a disciplined United Arab Emirates in the Asia Cup here Thursday. The two top from each group will qualify for the Super League stages where each team plays three matches to decide the July […]

PARIS, June 24, 2008 (AFP) – Beijing Games organisers will be hoping that the exciting crop of competitors in the blue riband event of athletics can dispel the sordid spectre of doping and provide a feast of top-class sport.Certainly, there is a raft of big-name draw cards and record-breakers for whom the stage is set […]

URUMQI, June 17, 2008 (AFP) – China Tuesday kicked off the Olympic torch relay’s sensitive leg through Xinjiang, a largely Muslim western region where Beijing acknowledges there are ethnic tensions. Under sunny skies, the regional capital Urumqi was largely shut down with police checkpoints restricting movement throughout the normally bustling city as the relay got […]

NEW DELHI, June 16, 2008 (AFP) – An experimental rule allowing players to seek a second opinion on umpiring decisions will be put on trial during India’s upcoming series in Sri Lanka, officials said on Monday. The rule says a batsman or fielding captain may request the review of any decision taken by on-field umpires […]

June 15, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Cricket, the island’s richest sporting body, is currently surviving on a 7.5 million dollar overdraft, a media report said. The triangular series had been due to take place in August 2006 between the hosts, South Africa and India. India stayed to play Sri Lanka, but rain disrupted the […]

PARIS, June 13, 2008 (AFP) – Planning and staging an Olympics has never been an easy task and the chances are that Beijing 2008 will have its share of problems before it all ends for another four years.However it will have to go some way to surpass several previous Olympics. From the humiliating spectacle of […]

BEIJING, June 11, 2008 (AFP) – China’s Olympic torch relay has become a mystery tour, with organisers refusing on Wednesday to disclose the dates of a planned journey though Tibet and other potentially sensitive legs.The torch’s trip through Tibet and other regions of western China where recent deadly unrest by Tibetans occurred was originally scheduled […]