Media boycott press conference

The BCCSL election may have started in dramatic fashion but it ended in farce as the entire media decided to walk out of the premises in disgust at being forced to wait over 2 hours for a press conference from the newly elected President Thilanga Sumathipala.

Having been informed that the Annual General Meeting was over and that Sumathipala was having some other meeting, the journalists, who had been waiting outside the auditorium for nearly five hours, requested Sumathipala to come down and issue a statement to the media. His failure to do so soon enough prompted the collective walk out by the disgruntled media.

Earlier Jayantha Dharmadasa, who suddenly withdrew his nominations this morning, had arranged a press briefing at his residence, but that too failed to materialise when the media demanded that Dharmadasa answer their questions there and then rather than seek sanctuary in his residence.

A rather short tempered and agitated Jayantha Dharmadasa alleged that Sumathipala was an illegal candidate and that the Board elections should be declared null and void for the second time in two year.

Today's election represented the media highlight of the year and the Sports Ministry was engulfed by over one hundred increasingly short tempered journalists who were in no mood to be messed around by either party.

The new Board elected:

President : Thilanga Sumathipala, Vice Presidents : Prasanna Ranatunga/AJM Muzamil Secretary : Mohan de Silva, Assistant Secretary : Lawrence Amarasena, Treasurer : Trevor Rajaratnam, Assistant Treasurer : Nimal Perera