Archive for the ‘Sport’

  • 21 Sep, 2010
  • 2 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Economy,
    Politics and Governance,
    Post-War,
    Sport

In conversation with Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy on Sri Lanka’s post-war economic development

Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy is a Former Director, Economic Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat. Indrajit was also a staff officer at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. As Wikipedia notes, From 1981 t 1989 he was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning. Thereafter he worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1990–2008, holding the posts of Director, Economic Affairs Division and Deputy-Director, Secretary-General’s Office and was brought back to the Commonwealth Secretariat to head the Social Transformation Programme Division, as Interim Director. Given Indrajit’s sporting background, we began by talking about his achievements in rugger and cricket at the University of Peradeniya in the early 70s and afterwards at Cambridge University, which to this day he said irked his mother who was of the opinion that he had spent far too much of time playing sport and far too little studying! I then asked Indrajit, an economist by training, about the global financial crisis and how, at the time,…

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  • 22 Aug, 2010
  • 7 Comments
  • Sport

THE RANDIV-SEHWAG AFFAIR: MISTAKING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES

Professor Michael Roberts, in a letter to the editor of The Island, has raised a matter of moral philosophy with regard to the controversy over Suraj Randiv’s deliberate no ball at Dambulla this week in an attempt to denude Virender Sehwag of his century, and the role of Tillekeratne Dilshan in it. Which is worse, he asks, denying a batsman his century by deliberately bowling a no ball, or the widespread practice of making cynically false appeals? His answer to this question is not in doubt: it is the latter, as practiced by the malevolent Australians and South Africans. No one disagrees with the proposition that the practice, not confined to the Australians or the South Africans, of making sustained appeals by a fielding side with the intention of pressuring umpires into wrong decisions is an awful distortion of the spirit of the game. We can also agree that the mixture of verbal intimidation against opponents and ingratiating badinage with…

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  • 26 Jul, 2010
  • 12 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Identity,
    Sport

THE POLITICAL LESSONS OF THE SMILING ASSASSIN: MURALI, CRICKET AND SRI LANKAN IDENTITY

muralidharan

Photo credit: Associated Press, published in Sydney Morning Herald Savouring the richly deserved cascades of press coverage last week of Muttiah Muralidaran’s retirement from Test cricket on the magnificent record of 800 wickets, it is difficult to resist a surge of heart-warming patriotism. It was not only the doosra-like sequence of events in the last day of the Galle Test against India – wholly implausible had it been a fictional plot – that precipitated this onrush of Sri Lankan pride in your columnist. For once, international media coverage was depicting Sri Lanka, due to the achievement of a man who epitomises the best in it, as it always should be: for world-conquering talent, effervescent spirit, generosity and humility in public, ebullient camaraderie in private, and unflappable good manners throughout. In the field of Test cricket, we shall never experience again that delightful frisson of pregnant expectation in the images of Murali’s impish smile and devious, quizzical glances, disconcerting last minute…

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Any inspiration Joanna?

Some excellent goals scored, some unbearable moments of anguish celebrated as teams win and lose in an imperfect system, some stunning comebacks, terrible bouts of pain vanishing instantly once the arbitrator with a whistle awards a free kick, the tears of the Japanese, the despair of the Ghanians’, incompetent referees sent out to save face, all making a wonderful festival of sport.  All in all we have been witness to a wonderful world cup. FIFA president Sepp Blatter called it an emotional one. Emotional because we saw more than soccer in South Africa. We saw a nation healing. We witnessed what could be an answer for the modern tribalism, which is engulfing our world. It was seen in a flag being celebrated equally by all races. Don’t be mistaken. A black and an Afrikaner were not spotted hugging each other, but the unity can be felt. Not pumped up, not voiced through news conferences and loud mouths in august assemblies. …

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Beam Me Up to Planet Football!

football planet

If you’re an alien planning to invade the Earth, choose July 11. Chances are that our planet will offer little or no resistance. Today, most members of the Earth’s dominant species – the nearly 7 billion humans – will be preoccupied with 22 able-bodied men chasing a little hollow sphere. It’s only a game, really, but what a game: the whole world holds its breath as the ‘titans of kick’ clash in the FIFA World Cup Final. Played across 10 venues in South Africa, this was much more than a sporting tournament. It’s the ultimate celebration of the world’s most popular sport, held once every four years. More popular than the Olympics, it demonstrates the sheer power of sports and media to bring together – momentarily, at least – the usually fragmented and squabbling humanity. Indeed, the exuberant and vuvuzela-blaring spectators flocking to South African stadiums make up only a small part of the global audience following these games. Far…

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Does cricket have a citizenship?

My family like many Sri Lankan families is cricket mad. I am the exception. When Sri Lanka played Pakistan a few days ago, my family lived and breathed cricket and it seemed like the end of the world when Sri Lanka lost. Imagine my surprise when I read the editorial of a daily newspaper that revealed that most Muslims of Sri Lanka celebrated the Pakistani win! But then again was I that surprised? We, Muslims look like any other Sri Lankans. We speak one of the two national languages and often both. Perhaps our feast day food is different, but no different than lumprai or yellow rice. On ordinary days we eat rice and curry like anybody else. For many years we dressed the same as other Sri Lankans but now I admit that many Muslim women wear the hijab. Other than that, no-one can say who is Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or Christian. So how are we different? How are…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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