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SLC rubbishes MP Nalin Bandara’s ‘baseless’ accusations in Parliament 

11 Aug 2022

By Marlon Dale Ferreira  Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), issuing a statement to all media institutions, stated that MP Nalin Bandara’s scathing attack on SLC was “baseless” and “far from the truth”, regarding the Asia Cup being shifted to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). MP Bandara, speaking in Parliament, had highlighted the loss of potential indirect revenue that sports tourism would have brought to the country if the Asia Cup was held in Colombo. However, the SLC pointed out that with the current economical, social, political, and now humanitarian crisis hitting the country, the decision to shift the event to the UAE was not a decision of the SLC, but the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) instead.  The ACC has nevertheless almost doubled the earnings SLC would have earned if the event was conducted in Colombo. SLC is now believed to earn a minimum of $ 6.5 million due to the shifting of the event to the UAE. MP Bandara, using his Parliamentary privileges to make his statements against the SLC, also stated that even Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe was unaware that the tournament had been shifted to the UAE. However, The Morning Sports can confirm that on 29 July 2022, SLC did officially send a letter addressed to Minister of Sports Ranasinghe, providing detailed reasons as to why the Asia Cup was shifted to be played in the UAE.  This is thus the second occasion on which Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe has been seen as misleading the public. Earlier, National Olympic Committee Sri Lanka (NOCSL) President Suresh Subramaniam labelled him a liar, when the Minister mentioned the NOCSL President by name and blamed the latter, alongside other officials attached to the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Sports, for bungling the Under-20 youth athletes’ visas and tickets just prior to going to Cali, Colombia for the World Youth U20 Games.  NOCSL President Subramaniam, on that occasion, stated that he had never spoken to the Minister in this regard, and that Ranasinghe may have been “trying to impress the public to earn mileage”. SLC officials are of the belief that these scathing attacks first by Minister Roshan Ranasinghe and now MP Nalin Bandara are related to former Minister and MP Arjuna Ranatunga’s appointment as the Chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC) by Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe. “There is no surprise that these types of allegations are surfacing now, especially with the timing of Arjuna Ranatunga’s appointment as the Chairman of the NSC,” quipped a senior official of the SLC. 


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