President to open baseball ground at Diyagama
YASARATNE GAMAGE
The first ever baseball ground in Sri Lanka and also in South Asia
constructed at the Mahinda Rajapakse International Sports Complex ,
Diyagama with the funds provided by Japan will be declared open by
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday.
The government of Japan under its Grant Assistance for Cultural
Grassroots Projects ( GCGP ) has provided a sum of US $ 111,607 (
approximately Rs 12 million ) of grant assistance along with US $
136,400 ( approximately Rs 14 million ) from Japan International
Cooperation (JICA ) to the Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Development
Foundation for the Project for the construction of a Base ball Ground
for Youth Training .
The Kamenoi Hotel Chain in Japan also has donated Rs 8.5 million for
the construction of the ground at the request of the president of Japan
Sri Lanka Baseball Association , Sujeewa Wijayanayake.
The inauguration ceremony will be followed by a friendly baseball
match between the Sri Lanka national baseball team and the Kanagawa High
school Baseball Federation Team from Japan. There will be another match
at the same venue on Monday between the same teams.
International base ball umpire, former Anandian Sujeewa Wijayanake of
Sri Lanka and four top class umpires from Japan will conduct a training
camp for local umpires on Tuesday at the new ground and at the end of
the training the participating local umpires will be ranked.
Japan, as a country where baseball is very popular, has supported the
promotion of baseball in Sri Lanka since 2002 by assigning Japan
Overseas Cooperation Volunteers ( JOCV ) as coaches to the Sri Lanka
Amateur Baseball / Softball Association, that resulted in gaining
popularity among Sri Lankans for baseball .
Successive Japanese baseball coaches have worked hard during the past
decade to enhance the base ball skills that attracted an increasing
number of youth who have taken a liking to this sport.
As a country took up the sport 10 years ago, Sri Lanka baseball has
now reached the level of international competition, ranked 32nd amongst
72 countries in 2011 and has already brought honour to the country by
winning the third place in the Asian Cup Championship in Thailand in
2009 as well as securing the second place at the SAARC Base ball
Championship in Pakistan in 2011.
In addition the University Student’s baseball team had also qualified
for the world University Baseball championship in 2010 while the under
18 team gained 5th place in the 2011 Youth Baseball Championship in
Japan.
These achievement were gained despite the lack of facilities such as
a suitable and standard baseball ground for proper training. When the
necessary facilities are provided Sri Lankan base ball will able to
reach the highest level of the game and the new ground at Diyagama will
be of utmost importance in that sense.
Commenting on the project, ambassador Nobuhito Hobo told Daily News
sports, “ it is significant that the inauguration of the baseball ground
coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations while
Japan’s support for baseball in Sri Lanka commenced in 2002 , the year
Japan and Sri Lanka marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
This project would contribute significantly to further enhancing the
cultural relations between the two countries “he added. |