COLOMBO, Dec 23: Sri Lanka’s new sports minister, Johnston Fernando, has sacked the governing bodies of cricket, athletics, volleyball and gymnastics, officials said Sunday.

Fernando asked the office bearers of the governing bodies to quit ahead of a revamping of the sports administration in the country, sports ministry officials said.

The quit notice saw the controversial Cricket Control Board members appointed in March lose their jobs.

The then sports minister Lakshman Kiriella appointed an interim panel to run the country’s crisis-ridden Cricket Board after sacking elected office bearers headed by Thilanga Sumathipala.

The chairman of the outgoing cricket board, Vijaya Malalasekara, had been handpicked by President Chandrika Kumaratunga whose party was routed at the Dec 5 parliamentary elections.

The new government has promised to clean up sports governing bodies which have been accused of malpractice and corruption.—AFP