'Central Province has made a big contribution to sports'

S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports correspondent

Central Province has made big contribution to sports both in the national and international sphere with Sri Lanka's national cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara and vice captain Muthiah Muralitharan both being products of Central Province. This is not all world's highest wicket taker both in Tests and one day Internationals is Muthiah Muralitharan. This is great indeed, said the Chief Minister of Central Province Sarath Ekanayake.

He made these observations when he addressed a Programme on Fitness in which nearly 800 persons participated and sports goods to 500 clubs from Kandy District and 200 clubs from Matale District were distributed at the Auditorium of Dharmaraja College, Kandy.

Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake said that we have targetted to make Central Province as the best Province in the island in the year 2015 and we have set out goals and we must progressively reach our objective.

He said it is our objective to produce healthy citizens and plans are under way to conduct seminars regularly and a fitness programmes and fitness tests for people of all ages will be conducted on a grand scale in August this year and prizes will be awarded to the winners. Therefore it is essential that you must keep fit for these fitness tests.

Speaking on a lightervein he said that there is another kind of fitness tests for commercial vehicles which people state that these certificates could be obtained by payment of money whether these vehicles are road worthy or not but Physical Fitness Certificates could be obtained only by undergoing various physical tests which are done in public and in the view of all.

Chief Minister said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa's 'Mahinda Chinthanaya' Lays Special Emphasis on sports and we have spent large sums of money to uplift sports in the Central Province. New Clubs have been formed and they have been-registered and certificates issued.

Their performance will be carefully monitored and every year they will have to renew their membership with the Ministry of Sports through their respective Divisional Secretariats for them to be eligible for facilities. This is a part of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's programme 'Gamata Kreeda'.

Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake said there are 36 Divisional Secretariats in the districts of Kandy and Matale and today we have distributed sports materials to over 700 clubs and this is the social responsibility of the government and you should make the best use of these sports equipment given and we will try to do better in the future.

We have distributed sports materials to even the remotest areas in the province like Laggala, Hettipola, Wasgamuwa, Kaikawela and Hasalaka so that sports will survive and be in a better frame.

Governor of the Central Province Tikiri Kobbekaduwa said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has set the right example by performing physical exercises early in the morning and this has made him physically fit and travel widely and indulge in political and social uplift programs almost every day.