Hutch Indoor Cricket Mela hits A'pura

INDOOR: Hutch Indoor Cricket Mela will start in the North Central province at the Salgado grounds in Anuradhapura on March 18. This will be the 6th Indoor Cricket Mela having conducted in Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala, Yatiyanthota, Matara and Kandy previously.

Anuradhapura will be witnessing an event of this nature for the very first time and already the home-town lads have shown lots of interest with over 100 teams having confirmed their participation in three different competitions.

The interschool tournament to be played during day light will have 40 teams vying for honours while the club competition will be played under lights amongst 80 teams. More importantly there will be 20 teams to battle out in the women's tournament to add excitement to the spectators.

Hutch Indoor Cricket Mela proudly sponsored by Hutchison Telecom and conducted by the Ceylon Indoor Cricket Association has been a huge hit amongst the districts of Sri Lanka.

There have been over 4000 players participating in six districts todate. Thiru Nadarasa - CEO of Hutch and Lasantha Perera - Senior General Manager have initiated and supported the Indoor Cricket Mela and continue to do so. Hutch has been a promoter of Indoor cricket since they sponsored.

The Indoor Cricket World Cup held in Sri Lanka in 2004.

Austasia Sports & Leisure Club, who has been responsible in introducing this sport to the country. Austasia takes pride in producing some of the finest players in different sports as it houses over 18 sports. The latest addition being Indoor Rugby which kicked off with a great start in February this year.

Tournament Director Sajith Rupasinghe is thrilled with the progress leading up to the event and stated that this will be one of the biggest mela's considering the amount of teams who have confirmed their participation and also thanked H.P. Somadasa for his efforts towards organizing the event.

Chief Minister of the North Central Province Berti Premalal Dissanayake, a sports lover himself will be the chief guest at the opening ceremony.

The Minister of Coconut Development and Deputy Minister of Science & Technology Salinda Dissanayake along with the Deputy Minister of Ports and aviation Duminda Dissanayake will be the guest of honour.

Cricket fans from Anuradhapura will gather around the Salgado Grounds to witness this enthralling contests over the next week the finals to be played on the 25th of March at the same venue.