Sunitha Goonetilleke stars in New Zealand Veterans Over60s triumph in Australia – By Clifford Lazarus A cricketer’s achievements in his late teens, twenties, or as an experienced player in his thirties does not surprise many, but it does raise eyebrows when a septuagenarian ends up with the best bowling performance for his team along with a  “Man of the match” award in the international arena.  That honour goes to Sunitha Goonetilleke who played cricket for Air Ceylon in the Nationalised Services, skippered the Sri Lankan team “Sinha” in Oman’s first division and played in the New Zealand domestic scene. “As a bowler it is not just my effort that matters, the whole team has helped me to achieve this, especially the fielders.   I feel humbled and honoured and thank God for the opportunity” states Sunitha. A medium pace bowler known throughout Auckland for his accurate line and length spells, ...

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SRILANKAN AIRLINES – IS IT A PARADISE? – By Dr. Tilak S. Ferando For the last few years, the SriLankan airline has been making a loss continuously. It is the consensus of everyone that the airline is overstaffed, particularly top-heavy, with millions of rupees to the senior management staff as salaries.  Therefore, the only option would be to privatise the airline. During President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s rulership, one of the international airline multinational conglomerates, with its separate travel company, showed an interest in taking over SriLankan airways. Virgin Conglomerate’s Chairman, Mr Richard Branson, had discussions with President Kumaratunga. He had to return to the UK disappointed, only having placed Sri Lankan ginger beer for virgin flights. SriLankan Airlines has gone through a metamorphosis of names in 42 years. Formally, it was known as the flag carrier of Ceylon under ‘Air Ceylon’. In 1979 Air Lanka commenced its operations from Bandaranaike Airport. ...

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First cut is the deepest! – By Aubrey Joachim   The magician has spoken. However, he did not pull any rabbits out of a hat. Instead he slashed the body of the damsel (in distress). Is it an illusion or will he be able to put her back and will she rise out of the façade? The newly appointed Prime Minister has spoken to the nation. The message was crisp, clear and succinct. The situation is grave. The patient is on life support. Sri Lankans will face hardships that they have never faced in their lives over the next few months. The stages of recovery will take time. If the patient comes out of life support it will progress through intensive care, critical care and a long period of hospitalisation before some modicum of recovery happens. A mere few months of hardships is the height of optimism. It seems more ...

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Air Ceylon our foundation in the sky   Aviation in Sri Lanka began in the year 1911, Bleriot Monoplane was the first Aircraft to arrive in Srilanka. The first flight in the skies of Srilanka was in the early morning of 7th Dec 1912, when two Frenchmen took off in a Bleriot aircraft, fly and land safely at the Race course grounds. The first International flight to Srilanka, a De Havilland Puss moth arrived from Bombay on 7th May 1931. Ratmalana Airport was built in 1935, formal opening was in 1938. .Modern   International Airport at Katunayake was build in the  year 1967 and opened for International operation in the year 1968, which is now  known as B.I.A(Bandaranayke International Airport) Air Ceylon was established in the year 1947 as State owned flag carrier, the inaugural flight of Air Ceylon took place on 10th Dec 1947 from Ratmalana to Kankasanturai with 16 ...

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