Burj Khalifa was NOT lit up with Sri Lankan national Flag after the Asian Cup Victory!

Sri Lanka, a nation battered by the ongoing economic crisis, burst into spontaneous celebrations last night, as the cricket team from the island nation made one of the most dramatic comebacks in recent history to lift the Asia Cup 2022 for the sixth time, by beating a more fancied Pakistani team.

Social media was flooded with praises for the energetic Sri Lankan cricket team, and few also claimed that Dubai’s famous Burj Khalifa building was lit up with the Sri Lankan national flag soon after the Asia Cup victory.

Social Media Posts

An image of Burj Khalifa building lit up with the Sri Lankan national flag went viral as seen below, implying that this was done to congratulate the Sri Lankan cricket team for their victory in the Asia Cup Finals 2022.

Facebook | Archived Facebook | Archived

Many others had shared the same image with many users thanking Dubai’s Burj Khalifa for displaying the national flag of Sri Lanka in response to the team's victory in the Asia Cup.

These claims were shared on Twitter also

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Facebook page of Daily News Newspaper also had published the same image in relation to Asia Cup Victory as seen here

Fact Check

First, we searched whether the Sri Lankan national flag really lit up on the Burj Khalifa building on 11^th September, celebrating the Asian Cup victory of the Sri Lankan cricket team. However, we did not notice any news of such an incident.

However, international media had reported that the Burj Khalifa tower was in fact lit up to symbolize the condolences over the death of Queen Elizabeth II on the night of 11^th September as seen below.

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We contacted a few Sri Lankans living in Dubai and they also confirmed that the tower was not lit up with the national flag of Sri Lanka.

Then, we did a Google reverse image search and was able to find the real context behind the viral photo.

Original Photo from April 2019

The tower was lit up with Sri Lankan national flag on 25^th April 2019 to commemorate the people who lost their lives to the deadly Easter Sunday bombings.

Official Twitter account of Burj Khalifa posted the same picture in April 2019 as seen below titled “#BurjKhalifa lights up in solidarity with #SriLanka. Here’s to a world built on tolerance and coexistence”

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Some international media also had posted the viral photo back in 2019 as seen here and here.

On 25^th of April 2019, Sri Lankan cricketer Dimuth Karunarathna also tweeted the image of Burj Khalifa with Sri Lanka's national flag. His post can be reached from here. Archived.

Another instance of SL flag on Burj Khalifa in 2020

We noticed yet another instance where the Burj was lit up with a Sri Lankan national flag. This was in February 2020 to commemorate the Independence Day of Sri Lanka as reported by the Sri Lanka embassy in UAE. However, in that instance the Sri Lankan national flag was displayed in a horizontal manner, as seen below.

Embassy of SL in UAE | Archived

Here is our Factcrescendo Sri Lanka team's analysis on the same photo in Sinhala language

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Conclusion

According to our investigation, we confirm that the image claiming to be the scene of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa being lit up by the Sri Lankan national flag in celebration of the team’s Asian Cup victory to be misleading.

The image was captured over 3 years ago, back in April 2019, when Burj Khalifa was lit with the national flag of Sri Lanka, in memory of the victims who lost their lives due to the deadly Easter Sunday attacks.

Title:Burj Khalifa was NOT lit up with Sri Lankan national Flag after the Asian Cup Victory!

Fact Check By: Kalana Krishantha

Result: Misleading