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First South Asian Beach Games from today:
All set for the sandy sports festival
Yasarathne GAMAGE
The inaugural South Asian Beach Games starts today and continues
until October 14 in the beautiful beach of the Southern city of
Hambantota. The opening ceremony will be held today under the patronage
of chief guest President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The colourful opening ceremony is scheduled to start at 6.30 p.m.
All arrangements have been made for the event to be held in a
successful manner to showcase Sri Lanka's ability to host the 2018
Commonwealth Games.
An exciting combination of 10 sporting events await sportsmen and
women from seven countries with Sri Lanka being the maiden host.
There will be 359 players from eight South Asian countries, namely
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, India and
the hosts Sri Lanka.
The 10 sporting events - beach basketball, beach football, beach
handball, beach kabbadi, beach volleyball, beach bodybuilding, sailing,
swimming, equestrian and beach netball are the scheduled events for the
eight day beach sports extravaganza.
Sri Lanka as the host country is represented in every event and hopes
to collect the heaviest sack of medals.
Prasanna Peiris, who won international fame for Sri Lanka in body
building with another five Asian champions will compete for medals.
Sri Lanka also hopes for a gold medal in beach volleyball with four
teams.
The newly introduced beach netball would be a tremendous experience
for all participating countries, according to the organizers.
Hambantota, the rising city, became the obvious choice for the South
Asian Beach Games.
Sri Lanka has risen against all odds including the tsunami and
defeating terrorism to attract the world in every sphere and is one of
the safest countries in the world which is heading towards massive
development.
The equestrian, beach netball and beach basketball events will make
the debut appearance in an beach event.
Sri Lanka fields a strong contingent comprising 83 players and 25
officials.
Sri Lanka will be in action when they take on Afghanistan, Maldives
and Bangladesh in the men's beach football today. |
