Jaswar Umar was elected as the new president of Football Sri Lanka (FSL) with a clear majority of 25 votes during the election of office-bearers held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute at Independence Avenue on Friday (29).
Out of 67 affiliated leagues, he attracted more than half of the votes as against 20 by his rival Sumathipala.
Jaswar Umar after the election (Pic by Herbert Perera)
Killinochchi Football League and Sri Lanka Police Football League abstained from voting that took place by secret ballot.
The voting process went ahead without any controversy with officials from FIFA and AFC being present to supervise the voting process. Jaswar said he was very pleased with the victory by such a big margin.
“Our immediate target is to prepare our team for the World Cup home and away qualifiers next month against Yemen on October 12 and 17. We are also ambitious in developing and improving the game and rankings in the future.
“There were many allegations against us such as misappropriation of finances and that our administration was involved in corruption too. However, we believe that the Leagues who voted for us have expressed their satisfaction with us.
“We will work with transparency and move forward. Hope the Police who abstained from voting will join with us to move the game forward,” said Jaswar.
Sumathipala said that he accepted defeat but don’t intend to work with this administration and will watch how they perform.
“I will work hard with the leagues who supported me to improve the game and win at all tournaments that will be held in the future,” said Sumathipala.
The newly elected office bearers are:
President: Jaswar Umar
Vice Presidents: Ranjith Rodrigo, Dr. Manil Fernando, Dilshan Nagahawatte, KMMP Karunathilake
Executive Committee: AW Abdul Gaffar, Jagath de Silva, Saif Yusuf, MIM Abdul Manaff, Indika Thenuwara and MCM Rizvi
Women’s member: Deepika Kumari
Jaswar received the support from former president of FSL Ranjith Rodrigo and former candidate Dr. Manil Fernando who were able to attract the leagues to vote for them.
