World Twenty20 champs S Lanka return to warm welcome

COLOMBO, Apr 9 (AP): Sri Lanka's World Twenty20 champions returned home to a heroes' welcome Tuesday with tens of thousands of fans lining up to greet the players on an open top bus, lighting firecrackers and dancing to drumbeats.
The players were welcomed with flower garlands as they left the plane and were taken for a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and later to a public ceremony at the seaside Galle Face Green area of Colombo.
Schoolchildren, factory workers and hotel employees were at the roadside, while fans in cars and on motorbikes carried national flags as they followed the team bus from the airport.
Sri Lanka beat India by six wickets in Sunday's final in Bangladesh, securing its first world title since winning the World Cup in 1996.