Did Isuru Udana make obscene gestures to a South African fan?
Isuru Udana, who represented Sri Lanka at under-19 level, rose through the ranks in 2009 and he was selected into the national side for the World T20. However, after a brief stint in the national side, he was side-lined for years. Recently, he made a comeback into the national squad and played in different leagues […]
Isuru Udana, who represented Sri Lanka at under-19 level, rose through the ranks in 2009 and he was selected into the national side for the World T20. However, after a brief stint in the national side, he was side-lined for years. Recently, he made a comeback into the national squad and played in different leagues across the globe where he impressed the audiences with his all-round performances. He currently holds the record for highest individual score (84) for a batsman batting at number eight in Twenty20 Internationals.
Many a people acclaimed Isuru Udana for his all-round performances and his display of sportsmanship in this year’s Mzansi Super League in South Africa. The all-rounder was a key component of the campaign of the eventual winners of the competition, Paarl Rocks. Owing to these performances, he was the only Sri Lankan player picked at the IPL Auctions conducted few days ago.
A post was shared by Facebook user Kaween Perera with a narration “ඊයේ දකුණු අප්රිකානු T20 තරගාවලියේදී හරි අපූරු සිදුවීමක් සිදුවෙනවා. එක්තරා අහිංසක තරුණියක් "ඉසුරු උදාන මාව බඳින්න" කියලා බෝඩ් එකක් අල්ලන් ඉන්නවා. එහිදී ඉසුරු උදාන ඔහුගේ මැද ඇගිල්ල ඔසවමින් ඕන්නම් මම ඔයා එක්ක ලිංගිකව හැසිරෙන්න විතරක් කැමති කියා ඉඟි පල කරනවා. මෙවැනි කුපාඩි ක්රීඩකයන් රටට ක්රීඩා කිරිම ඔබ අනුමත කරනවාද?” with images of a South African fan and Isuru Udana. The English translation of the post is as follows:
“An innocent girl held a placard saying, "Marry me Isuru Udana". Udana responded, raising his middle finger and hinting that he only wants to have sex with her. Do you approve of these ugly players playing for the country? ”
Many people expressed disbelief and there were a number of replies to the post, saying, “This post is tarnishing the image of Isuru Udana”. Hence, we decided to check the facts behind the incident.
Fact check
To ascertain the incident we did a Google search and YouTube search related to Isuru Udana for past week and found a number of content related to this incident. It was evident that the incidence had occurred during the recently concluded Mzansi Super League final in South Africa. The screenshot of the Google search is given below in which you can see the number of articles reporting the incidence.
All of these articles reported that there was indeed a proposal from a fan during the Mzansi Super League final with a girl holding a placard stating “Marry Me Udana” but the player had shown his finger with the wedding ring indicating that he is already married.
We found the video footage related to the incident as well and it was clear that Isuru Udana was indicating the wedding ring to the fan and the same is mentioned in the commentary as well.
Conclusion.
Sri Lankan all-rounder Isuru Udana was not making any obscene gesture to a fan who displayed a placard saying, “Marry me, Udana”. In fact, he politely showed the fan his wedding ring suggesting that he was already married. Some misinterpreted this polite gesture turning down the fan’s proposal as rude and obscene behaviour by Udana. Hence, the claim that Isuru Udana made obscene gesture and disrespected a fan during a match in South Africa is false.
Title:Did Isuru Udana make obscene gestures to a South African fan?
Fact Check By: Sathyajith SubasingheResult: False
