Archives

Fans bowled by forgers' deceptive delivery

by Tharika Goonathilake

Security personnel manning the gates at the R.Premadasa Stadium yesterday detected a large number of counterfeit tickets for the Champions Trophy semi final between Sri Lanka and Australia.

Over 10,000 fans without tickets also stood outside the Stadium unable to get in but determined to brave the 650 police personnel deployed for crowd control.

"The Stadium was packed to capacity and there were over 15 entry points to the grounds. But with the in-built security measures in the ticket and detection equipment allocated to security personnel at the gates, we were able to detect the forged from the genuine," sources told the `Daily News.'

According to Cricket Board officials, virtually every ticket had been checked for its genuineness, following police raids on several establishments selling a large number of counterfeits during the last few days leading up to yesterday's semi final. There was a scramble for tickets following Sri Lanka's victory over Pakistan in the league stage of the tournament. The demand increased after World Champions Australia were selected as the opponents.

Block A/B and the Grand Stand are believed to have had the most numbers of counterfeit tickets.

Colombo Central SSP D.P.L. Dissanayake said that despite police efforts fans continued to flood the stadium when Sri Lanka began batting and that they were expecting larger crowds later in the evening.

A similar surge in demand for tickets could be expected for Sunday's final between Sri Lanka and India. 

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager