Infrastructure development in overdrive:

Glorious era for sports

Chris Dhambarage

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Diyagama in Homagama

Sri Lankan sportsmen and sportswomen received a tremendous boost with the construction of the fully fledged Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium situated in Diyagama in Homagama.

The stadium is constructed at a cost of Rs. 110 million under the supervision of the Seventh Engineering Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army covering an area of 140 acres.

This stadium will be the biggest in the country and will have the opportunity of conducting a number of sporting events namely track and field, football, rugby, volleyball, netball, basketball, rifle shooting, archery and swimming.

The feature in this stadium will be the newly laid modern track which was installed at a cost of Rs. 37 million. In addition the track unlike the Sugathadasa Stadium will consist of nine lanes.

Meanwhile two new venues in Pallekele and Sooriyawewa will also be constructed as Sri Lanka will co-host the International Cricket Council World Cup 2011 alongside India and Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka will play host to 12 World Cup games, inclusive of a semi final fixture.

Two new venues are being constructed by Sri Lanka cricket, while well seasoned R. Premadasa Stadium is being refurbished to a state-of-the-art venue with a brand new media box.

The two new venues, now under construction, namely Pallekele and Sooriyawewa will be second to none in the world. The former is in the hill capitol just 20 minutes from down town in Kandy, while the latter is deep down South in Hambantota.

It is envisaged that both Sooriyawewa and Pallekele will be world class venues, with state-of-the-art facilities to host day night games very similar to the venue in Colombo.

Pallekele is up and running with matches already being played on the newly constructed 12 center pitch venue, which boasts of an outfield that’s lush green and lighting fast. Sooriyawewa will consist of 10 center pitches.

Sooriyawewa international stadium constructed on a 47 acre land has the capacity to host 33,000 spectators and parking facilities are for 1200 vehicles. Pallekele constructed on an 18 acre land has a 27,000 spectator capacity with a parking facility for 700 automobiles.

All three venues now being constructed will leave a legacy for future generation based on the fact that all three venues will be world class, in terms of player, spectator, media and most importantly playing conditions.

Mahela Jayawardene

The construction of this stadium came to a standstill in 2003.

The current administrators have done a sterling job in quickening the pace of construction from April this year.

The grounds are well constructed and the outfields are spread with a special layer of grass. This variety is of Australian origin and is sourced from the Victoria Golf Links situated close to the stadium.

These venues have ten center pitches and the picturesque venues will also have twenty practice wickets outside the ground, behind the main pavilion.

Pallekele will play host for two World Cup matches in 2011.

The final phase of construction of the pavilion will get underway shortly and it’s envisaged to be ‘State-Of-The-Art’, with fantastic dressing rooms for the players, spectator stands and classy Media box with conference room facilities.

All clubs and schools in the Central Province will stand to benefit from this project, since these international facilities will be made available to any club or school on request. Schools will be encouraged to play their matches at this venue hence the venue will not be restricted for international cricket only.

The Sri Lankan cricketers hit the headlines at two World Cup tournaments before star sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe rounded up a glorious era for sporting events in the country by securing a silver medal at the Sydney Olympic Games.

There were further celebrations for ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who became the highest wicket taker in both forms of the game while unknown Sailor Prasanna Peiris produced a stunning performance to snatch a silver medal at the World Bodybuilding championships in Doha Qatar.

There was another personal milestone for veteran all rounder Sanath Jayasuriya who became the only Sri Lankan to complete two decades of international cricket while following in the footsteps of India’s master batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

Muttiah Muralitharan

The Lahore terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team almost brought the game to a complete standstill in the region. Despite all these setbacks and security concerns the players were able to give their one hundred percent on the field that lifted the country’s image to a great extent.

In fact they narrowly missed out the opportunity of winning the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean and also the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England. On both instances they showed a great amount of character and proved that they are capable of rising to the big occasion.

In the Caribbean of course they were somewhat unfortunate and were probably robbed of a victory in the final which was severely disrupted by bad weather. But they accepted the challenge in a true spirit and showed the World that they could take up both victory and defeat gracefully.

The Sri Lankan cricketers again emerged runners-up at the second edition of the International Cricket Council Twnety20 World Cup in England but not before Tillekeratne Dilshan had unveiled a new dimension of batting into the game.

The dashing opening batsman emerged as a pure entertainer of the game for his innovative style of batting which many batsmen started imitating thereafter.

Dilshan was able to extend his dominance in all forms of the game and turned out to be one of the most successful batsmen in World cricket.

His outstanding contributions also helped Sri Lanka to achieve their best rankings in the longer version of the game when they reached the number two position last year for the first time since obtaining ICC Test status.

Susanthika Jayasinghe

This was a tremendous achievement considering the fact that the country had limited opportunities against some of the top Test playing nations in the recent past.

Even then the biggest influence in the Sri Lankan camp came in the form of champion off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and dashing opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya. Incidentally Muralitharan’s performance against England in the 2006 test series has been ranked among the best in this decade.

The venue was Trent Bridge and England were left with a victory target of 325 runs which turned out to be too much to handle on a dry surface against the spin of Muttiah Muralitharan who captured the first seven wickets to fall in a sensational spell of bowling.

With Tillekeratne Dilshan holding on to some breathtaking catches at short leg Muralitharan was well on his way to creating history and emulate Jim Laker and Anil Kumble the two players to have claimed all ten wickets in an innings. However a direct hit from Chamara Kapugedera ended those hopes but there was still time for one more wicket as Muralitharan finished with magnificent figures of eight wickets for 70 runs.

Two years later mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis produced probably a similar effort but in a different format of the game that helped Sri Lanka to lift the Asia Cup limited overs title defeating India in the final in Karachi, Pakistan.

The dangerous Virender Sehwag was really threatening to take control of a challenging target when Ajantha Mendis was given the ball in the day night final. His second delivery lured Sehwag down the pitch and then darted away to give Kumar Sangakkara the easiest of stumpings.

Two balls later Yuvraj Singh was mesmerized by a straighter one while Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina both fell playing across the line to leave the innings in tatters. After a short break Mendis returned to have Irfan Pathan caught at slip and RP Singh bowled. The leg breaks and off breaks were hard enough to play, but it was the carrom ball that left batsmen utterly bemused.

Mendis bowled eight overs and went on to claim six wickets for 13 that enabled him to win the Man of the Match award.

Susanthika Jayasinghe

Meanwhile Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga broke the record for the highest opening stand in one day internationals when they clobbered 286 runs in 31.5 overs against England at Leeds while surpassing the 258 between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly in Paarl in 2003.

Three days later, the Sri Lankans smashed 443 against Netherlands in Amstelveen , breaking the record for the highest team score in one day internationals.

In addition Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene tormented the South Africans with a marathon stand of 624 for the third wicket at the SSC grounds while setting a first-class record. Jayawardene made 374, the fourth-highest score in all Tests (and the highest by a right-hander), and Sangakkara fell just short of his own triple-century.

The success of Prasanna Peiris is of course a rare piece of achievement and probably the best ever effort from a bodybuilder in the recent past. His effort was even more significant considering the fact that he took up the challenge to compete at the World championships at the backdrop of some uncertainty.

The 40 year old former Sailor was forced to find employment in overseas in sheer disappointment and with the aim of providing a better future for his family. While working as a Physical Fitness Instructor in Qatar he found the environment and the set up quite friendly to re launch his bodybuilding career.

He got his act together well and worked on his basics on a daily routine that put him in the correct path for a World class performance. The final result and his ultimate goal was a silver medal in the 65 kg bantam weight category event out of competitors from 90 countries.

The Sri Lanka Under-19 team had an excellent run of success both here and abroad as they made their final preparations ahead of the more important International Cricket Council (ICC) Youth World Cup which is currently taking place in New Zealand.

Their greatest achievement was the 3-2 youth one day series victory in Australia which also marked the first ever series triumph by any cricket team down under. Under the guidance of Coach Naveed Nawaz and inspired by the services of former batting legend and Consultant Coach Aravinda de Silva the youngsters also clinched a Tri Nation limited overs series that featured Pakistan and Bangladesh at home.

More than the victories and the success the striking feature has been the manner in which they have handled the pressure and different match situations unlike their senior team members.

Meanwhile soldier Chaminda Wijekoon lived upto expectations as a promising athlete when he created history with a gold medal in the men’s 1500 metres event at the Lusafonia Games held in Lisbon this year.

In the boxing ring women boxers came into recognition with Nilmini Jayasinghe winning a gold medal at the World championships in Petersburg, Russia.

New Diyagana Stadium

This was followed by another pleasing effort from Anusha Kodituwakku who bagged a bronze medal at the Women’s Indoor Games held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The sportsmen and sportswomen of Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club also contributed a great amount towards maintaining Sri Lanka’s image as a popular sporting nation in the region as three of their competitors clinched two silver and one bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games Weightlifting Championships staged in Malaysia.

The Sri Lanka netball team also brought glory to the country by winning the Asian championships with a spectacular performance in Malaysia. Their success had a great amount of significance considering the fact that the last time they won this event was way back in 2002.

There was further ecstasy for celebrated sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe when her performance at the Sydney Olympic Games was elevated to a silver medal by the World Governing Body. In the year 2000 she became the nation’s first Olympic Games medalist since 1948, when she finished behind Marion Jones and Pauline Davis-Thompson in the Women’s 200 metres.

On October 5, 2007 Marion Jones admitted to having been taking performance enhancing drugs prior to the 2000 Summer Olympics Games and Susanthika Jayasinghe was elevated to silver medal status.

The result may have come rather late at a time when she had already retired from the sport but still a remarkable effort that will be remembered for a long time.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara returned to the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for one day international batsmen after a run of stellar performances in the recently concluded Tri-Nation series in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sangakkara not only won the Player of the Series award for his scores of 74, 60, 17 not out, 68 and 55 but has also been rewarded with a jump of six places in the latest rankings which put him in 10th position for the first time since February 2009.

The left-hander has now become Sri Lanka’s highest-ranked batsman, leapfrogging opener Tillakaratne Dilshan who has also climbed two places to achieve his career-best ranking of 13th. Dilshan was the fifth most successful batsman in Mirpur when he finished the series with an aggregate of 186 runs, including 104 against Bangladesh in the tournament opener and 49 in the final against India.