Sports is an integral element of the culture in Sri Lanka. Sports and athletic competitions are a regular part of activities organised at the school and college levels and are popular at the provincial and national levels. The country’s residents participate in and follow various sports, while different professional teams, particularly cricket teams, have achieved considerable success internationally.
This article offers a brief preview of the top five sports in Sri Lanka.
Cricket in Sri Lanka
Volleyball may be Sri Lanka’s national sport, but cricket takes the lead by quite a margin when it comes to popularity. The Sri Lankan cricket team is one of the twelve full members of international cricket and participates in test cricket. The national team is one of the most successful teams in the world and is one of the seven teams that have won the World Cup.
Cricket was first introduced to the region by the British in the nineteenth century. The earliest records of cricket played on the island can be traced back to 1832, when a cricket club was formed. This was followed by an increase in cricket’s popularity and the introduction of various tournaments and competitions.
The national team played its first one-day international match in the World Cup in 1975 and achieved test cricket status in 1981, making it the eighth test cricket-playing country. Sri Lanka’s performance first came into the limelight in the 90s and won many championships after that, including the World Cup in 1996, ICC Champions Trophy in 2002, and World T20 in 2014, in addition to being runners-up in various tournaments at multiple instances. The team has also won the Asia Cup six times, the latest being in 2022.
Rugby Union in Sri Lanka
The second most popular sport in Sri Lanka is Rugby Union. Sri Lanka has no professional leagues for the sport, and it is usually played at a semi-professional level or for recreation. The sport was introduced in Sri Lanka in the late nineteenth century, and the Sri Lanka national rugby union team was formed in 1908 as the Ceylon football rugby union, while the first rugby club was founded in 1879.
Sri Lanka has not yet qualified for the Rugby World Cup, but the national team has garnered attention with its performance in recent years. Although the country is not a successful rugby-playing nation, the sport is highly popular, with crowds of thousands attending the club games at the domestic level.
The Sri Lankan rugby union team competes in Division One of the Asian Five Nations. The country also has a national sevens team and organises the Sri Lanka Sevens, an international tournament that is part of the Asian Sevens Series.
Football in Sri Lanka
The next sport on our list is football. Like rugby union, football is played at a semi-professional level in Sri Lanka. The governing body for the sport is Football Sri Lanka, which oversees the affairs of the national football team and the Sri Lanka Super League. The national team is a member of the Asian Football Confederation but has yet to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup or the FIFA World Cup.
The top football league in the country is the Sri Lanka Super League, which was founded in 2021. The league comprises ten clubs, and for the first two seasons, it is being organised without a promotion and relegation system. Afterward, it is expected that it will have a promotion and demotion format with the Sri Lanka Champions League, the previous top-tier football league in the country.
Auto racing in Sri Lanka
You may find it hard to believe, but auto racing is very popular in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders, the pioneers of Motor Sports in Sri Lanka, organises several racing events throughout the year. These include Commando Super Cross, Fox Hill Moto Cross, etc.
The first international motor racing team in Sri Lanka is Dilango Racing. Its member Dilantha Malagamuwa was the champion of the GT Asia Series in 2010 and 2016. He has also represented the country in various international racing events and series.
Netball in Sri Lanka
The last sport on our list is netball. It is also one of the earliest contemporary sports played in Sri Lanka and has been played since 1921. A girls’ team from a high school played the first recorded netball match in the country. Six years later, a government training college organised a netball match that spread awareness about netball and increased its popularity.
By the 1950s, various Sri Lankan clubs were playing against netball clubs from India. The country played its first international match in 1956, but the sport’s official governing body, the Netball Federation, was not formed till 1972. However, it was dissolved a decade later. The national team represents Sri Lanka in tournaments at the regional level, including the Asian Netball Tournament, which the team has won multiple times.
