COLOMBO // Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have delayed a meeting with Indian officials over the participation of players in the country's inaugural Twenty20 competition.
SLC chairman DS de Silva and secretary Nishantha Ranatunga failed to make a scheduled trip to India yesterday amid diplomatic moves to defuse the row which was sparked by India's refusal to allow players to compete in the tournament.
"It's a very sensitive issue. Sri Lanka is keen not to upset relations with India. Both countries share warm relations and India's financial clout is key to Sri Lanka cricket future," an official source said asking to remain anonymous.
Fast bowlers Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel were among 12 Indian players who had sought permission to play in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier cleared the event.
The BCCI's reversal came amid media reports that the SLPL was being organised by the Singapore-based Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which allegedly has links with Lalit Modi, the sacked former boss of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Sri Lanka's sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage was optimistic the issue would be resolved amicably and denied that the London-based Modi was involved with the tournament.
Modi faces criminal charges, including false accounting, and accusations by the BCCI that more than US$106 million (Dh389.3m) was misappropriated during his three-year tenure as IPL chairman.
Modi also distanced himself from the tournament through his Twitter feed on Monday.
Sri Lanka's cricketing relations with India dipped in April after the new selection panel asked players to return during the IPL and prepare for the tour of England.
The Sri Lankan government later intervened and overruled the decision to avoid souring relations with India and the Indian cricket board.
The seven-team SLPL is set to be played from July 19 to August 4 in Colombo.
Company profile
Name: Cashew
Started: 2020
Founders: Ibtissam Ouassif and Ammar Afif
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: FinTech
Funding size: $10m
Investors: Mashreq, others
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Most polluted cities in the Middle East
1. Baghdad, Iraq
2. Manama, Bahrain
3. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
4. Kuwait City, Kuwait
5. Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
6. Ash Shihaniyah, Qatar
7. Abu Dhabi, UAE
8. Cairo, Egypt
9. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
10. Dubai, UAE
Source: 2022 World Air Quality Report
MOST POLLUTED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
1. Chad
2. Iraq
3. Pakistan
4. Bahrain
5. Bangladesh
6. Burkina Faso
7. Kuwait
8. India
9. Egypt
10. Tajikistan
Source: 2022 World Air Quality Report
PETER PAN & WENDY
Director: David Lowery
Stars: Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, Joshua Pickering
Rating: 3/5
Gully Boy
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
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MEDIEVIL (1998)
Developer: SCE Studio Cambridge
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Console: PlayStation, PlayStation 4 and 5
Rating: 3.5/5
Top goalscorers in Europe
34 goals - Robert Lewandowski (68 points)
34 - Ciro Immobile (68)
31 - Cristiano Ronaldo (62)
28 - Timo Werner (56)
25 - Lionel Messi (50)
*29 - Erling Haaland (50)
23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
*NOTE: Haaland's goals for Salzburg count for 1.5 points per goal. Goals for Dortmund count for two points per goal.
The specs
Engine: 1.8-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 190hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm from 1,800-5,000rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 6.7L/100km
Price: From Dh111,195
On sale: Now
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
ABU DHABI'S KEY TOURISM GOALS: BY THE NUMBERS
By 2030, Abu Dhabi aims to achieve:
• 39.3 million visitors, nearly 64% up from 2023
• Dh90 billion contribution to GDP, about 84% more than Dh49 billion in 2023
• 178,000 new jobs, bringing the total to about 366,000
• 52,000 hotel rooms, up 53% from 34,000 in 2023
• 7.2 million international visitors, almost 90% higher compared to 2023's 3.8 million
• 3.9 international overnight hotel stays, 22% more from 3.2 nights in 2023
Non-oil trade
Non-oil trade between the UAE and Japan grew by 34 per cent over the past two years, according to data from the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre.
In 10 years, it has reached a total of Dh524.4 billion.
Cars topped the list of the top five commodities re-exported to Japan in 2022, with a value of Dh1.3 billion.
Jewellery and ornaments amounted to Dh150 million while precious metal scraps amounted to Dh105 million.
Raw aluminium was ranked first among the top five commodities exported to Japan.
Top of the list of commodities imported from Japan in 2022 was cars, with a value of Dh20.08 billion.
SANCTIONED
- Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
- Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
- Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
- Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
And Just Like That...
Director: Various
Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis
Rating: 3/5
Stage 2
1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix 4:18:30
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:06
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:06
4. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06
5. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:08