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| Tuesday, 22 July 2003 |
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National Sports Festival put off by Dinesh Weerawansa The 2003 National Sports Festival has been put off for end September as the reconstruction work of the sports venues in Jaffna would be completed only in about two months time. Sri Lanka's annual multi-sports extravaganza, conducted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, was originally scheduled to be held in Jaffna from August 5 to 9. But the reconstruction work of the main Duraiappa Stadium, Jaffna has forced the organisers to put off the meet by nearly a couple of months. The 2003 National Sports Festival would now be worked off from September 30 to October 5 and the venue remains unchanged. Under the direction of the Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, Johnston Fernando, Jaffna's main stadium - Duraiappa Stadium would be given a new look and over Rs, 20 million would be spent on the redevelopment work of the venue. Deputy Director of Sports, Dervin Perera said the grass athletic track at the Jaffna venue has been completed while the ground for soccer is nearing completion. Sports Ministry officials have been making regular visits to Jaffna to monitor the progress of the preparations of sports venues in Jaffna, which would host 15 disciplines of the National Sports Festival, including track & field. It was on an idea mooted by Minister Fernando that the National Sports Festival is being hosted by the Northern capital for the first time in Sri Lanka's sports history. It would enable the sports starved Jaffna fans to witness some of Sri Lanka's top sportsmen and women in action during the week-long mega event. A team of ten sports ministry officials left for Jaffna yesterday to monitor and report the progress of the development work at the venues. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have responded favorably to the Sports Ministry decision to take the Games to Jaffna after the UNF Government's peace pact 15 months ago. LTTE's Sports Wing leader K. Papa has had a couple of meetings with the top Sports Ministry officials and have shown their interest in having the Games in their province. Meanwhile, Provincial level championships, which leads up to the National Sports Festival, have been completed in three provinces - Western, Central and Sabaragamuwa, while the other Provincial meets are to be completed by the end of this month. Gymnastics, swimming, badminton and hockey tournaments have already been completed in Colombo as the organisers were unable to built venues for these sports in Jaffna immediately. At the National Sports Festival hockey finals, Central Province made a clean sweep at the Astro turf winning both the men's and women's championships. In the men's final, Central Province thrashed Western Province 6-0. Their women had even more convincing win when they crushed North Western 7-0 in the final. M. Kandanaarachchi (Central) and D.S. Tennekoon (Western) were adjudged best swimmers at the Sugathadasa Stadium pool. |
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