gamesSL Posted December 12, 2010 Report Share Posted December 12, 2010 Sri Lanka is a very good place in the Asian region to host beach games said President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Sheikh Ahamed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. He was speaking at a press conference held to enlighten the media about the Second Asian Beach Games currently underway here in Oman.“Sri Lanka has very good beaches and it will be suitable for many sporting events as far as beach games are concerned,” the OCA President added. The National Olympic Committee (NOC) has sent around 14 observers to the 2nd Asian Beach Games. They will study how the games are being organised and expects to use that experience in organising the First South Asian Beach Games to be held in Sri Lanka in 2011. Hambantota will be hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup and then the South Asian Beach Games. “We have sent these observers with a purpose. They will make sure they will get knowledge as to how this type of events are organised. That will help us in organising the first ever South Asian Beach Games in Hambantota,” said President of NOC Sri Lanka, Hemasiri Fernando. Sri Lanka will try to prove its organisational skills before the deadline to present the formal bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in May next year. Maldives and Bangladesh also put forward their bids to host the next Beach Games. However all South Asian National Olympic Committees gave their consent for Sri Lanka’s last minute bid. (HW) http://www.thesundayleader.lk/?p=29509 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuigiVercotti Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Ah yes, well we all know how reputable a personage Fahad el Sabah is when it comes to sporting administration and enlightened leadership. But, just in case you have missed the dozen years or so and the stench that surrounds the head of the OCA just check out this extract from Andrew Jennings: Dishonoured Games: Corruption, Money & Greed at the Olympics (Chapter 10 passim) No wonder he is so keen on Hambantota...just like back home in Kuwait except no oil. And of course considering the absolute non-existance infrastructure-wise at Hambanatota of anything that could remotely be of a standard of CGs then I guess the very important 2nd Asian Beach Games are a truly prestigious and appropriate reward for local capo di capo Rajapaksa: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamesSL Posted December 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 And of course considering the absolute non-existance infrastructure-wise at Hambanatota of anything that could remotely be of a standard of CGs then I guess the very important 2nd Asian Beach Games are a truly prestigious and appropriate reward for local capo di capo Rajapaksa: Their is no argument about HAMBANTOTA infrastructure its fast changing and developing in to sri lankas next new capital city. Southern Expressway http://lankatrend.com/e/mailmania/2010/09/13/colombo-matara-southern-highway/ Construction of hambantota international airport http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2010/10/24/fea26.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuigiVercotti Posted December 19, 2010 Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 Well if this report is indicative of how the Sri Lankans organise sport in Hambantota I'm sure the Rajapaksa stooges will be issuing lots of apologies... Reverse swing on the Hambantota highway Fri, 10 Dec 07:47:00 2010 Before Sri Lanka and West Indies eventually called off their ODI series, the media and fans went through a harrowing 24 hours with officials unable to decide on whether the matches would go ahead. Andrew Fernando tells his tale After the rain-plagued failure that was the Test series, hopes of an uninterrupted one-day leg were not high among the media people covering the tour. The first match was in Hambantota and most journalists chose not to make the seven-hour trip from Colombo, choosing instead to work from home. The rest did so reluctantly, having heard reports from the ground that the venue remained desperately incomplete and that the weather was just as bad in the normally drier south-east as it had been on the rest of the island. The few of us who took the trouble to travel should have followed the lead of our wiser colleagues and not have bothered. I first got wind of a possible series postponement at around 5.00pm on Wednesday, when we were about two-and-a-half hours away from Sooriyawewa, the town that hosts anyone visiting Hambantota. One of my travelling companions received a news alert on his cellphone saying that Sri Lanka Cricket had announced a series postponement due to inclement weather. We immediately began making phone calls to other journalists and photographers to confirm the news. It seemed inconceivable that an international one-day series could be postponed - especially because of bad weather - on the eve of the first match, but everyone else seemed to have heard the same news that we had. The series had apparently been postponed. We turned back and headed towards Colombo but, on our way, managed to finally get through to SLC's media manager for an official update. He told us that the board was looking to postpone the tour, but that the West Indies board was yet to get back on whether that would be possible. Realising now that the match could very well be on, and not wanting to take any risks, we turned around once more and headed for Hambantota. We arrived there at 8.00pm, having heard reports from various people about the state of affairs. Each new piece of information was more confusing than the previous one and we were yet to hear official word on anything. Late into the evening, we received news that there had been no postponement and this was confirmed on the morning of the game, despite the fact that it was raining heavily at the time. The match was back on. We made our way to the ground, not knowing what to expect; not that we could have been prepared for what we saw. The stands at the Mahinda Rajapakse Stadium were so far from completion, parts of it had barely taken shape. Much like the R Premadasa Stadium during the second Test, the new stands were just terraced concrete slabs; the driveways and carparks around the stadium were a mix of mud and loose gravel. Two gigantic cranes hovered over the ground and were at work when we arrived, while diggers and bulldozers littered the stadium's perimeter as men in hard hats ran around trying to get things ready on the inside. The temporary press box had a roof and a floor, but two large portions of wall were missing, meaning that wind blew through the place as journalists attempted to work. The scaffolding that was positioned alongside most of the buildings completed the picture. To say that this was a stadium under construction would have been a severe understatement. Once inside, the media manager quickly confirmed that the series would go ahead as planned and we set up for the day, despite the fact that it had rained incessantly since the morning with no end in sight, and there was little hope of any play. We sat and waited. We didn't have to wait long for the next in an endless series of U-turns. Apparently the series had been postponed once again. The official word came via an email from the Sri Lanka board at 1.39pm, less than an hour before the scheduled start of play. SLC were backpedalling at an alarming rate. They then said that although the boards had considered postponing the series on Wednesday, they had decided to stick it out for one more day - on a suggestion from the meteorological department - to see if the weather would improve enough. It hadn't. Apparently the same department had forecast bad weather throughout the island until the end of December, which is why they had decided to call off the series at the last moment. This response, just like everything else that had come from the board in the last 24 hours, only raised more questions than it answered. Third world standards of sports administration lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamesSL Posted December 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 Well if this report is indicative of how the Sri Lankans organise sport in Hambantota I'm sure the Rajapaksa stooges will be issuing lots of apologies... Third world standards of sports administration lol you cant stop the rain. winning the world cup is the priority Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuigiVercotti Posted December 19, 2010 Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 Hmmmm...rain in a part of the country that has been affected by recent flooding...now how couldn't that be predicted And isn't it refreshing to see international cricket being played in facilities that aren't even complete, and journalists not willing to travel to this sodden paradise by the construction site. Or local authorities unable or unwilling to use all that infrastructure to actually tell anyone what was really going on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamesSL Posted December 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 And isn't it refreshing to see international cricket being played in facilities that aren't even complete, and journalists not willing to travel to this sodden paradise by the construction site. Or local authorities unable or unwilling to use all that infrastructure to actually tell anyone what was really going on... sri lanka cricket was desperate to play some matches in the world cup grounds and wanted some matches before selecting the world cup squad. to see how the area is fast changing one should be their. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuigiVercotti Posted December 19, 2010 Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 Abandoned tour an accident waiting to happen By Trevor Chesterfield | December 10, 2010 What an embarrassment. And Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) cannot say they were not warned when they boasted how the three venues for the next year’s World Cup would be used for the West Indies tour. There is a major difference though between jingoist chatter and reality. No one, however, can do anything about the rain which has hung around like the proverbial stench from the pile of metaphorical garbage on the doorstep of the government premises in Maitland Place. What happened at Sooriyawewa, Hambantota, was an accident waiting to happen. It also defies explanation how SLC acted with Po-faced indifference at first then decided to do something about the fiasco when West Indies and Sri Lanka players kicked up a fuss trying to play a series in such a dystopian background. If anyone at SLC had checked the Bay of Bengal weather map it would have left no doubt that the initial idea to reschedule the five-match ODI series next month would have been the most sensible solution. As it is, the three stadiums are little more at this stage than building sites. It is no way to prepare for a major event 74 days away. Back in October, a visit to Sooriyawewa, Hambantota, gave such an impression and little has changed. At present, the stadium presents an image of an ugly concrete and steel skeleton, purporting to be the main grandstand, yet has the appearance of a futuristic model designed for a space age horror film. All that is missing is a local version of Terminator IV swinging from the scruffy ramparts of a derelict looking edifice turning it into a macabre reincarnation of a battlestation playground for a rerun of the movie, “Return of the Nerds”. Quite seriously this where Sri Lanka’s first World Cup 2011 game is to be played against Canada on February 20 and the looming fear here is that it is daily becoming another New Delhi in the build up to the Commonwealth Games. As the building is far from finished, the chauvinism around the game’s government run quarters of how the venue is “on track,” makes those who have seen the monstrosity up close realise how the Maitland Place cronies are living in a world of make-believe. This has been alluded to before in these columns, but SLC, by offering a Po-faced statement telling us what we knew last Sunday, show they also believe in the tooth fairy. It was a mix of strong objections by the West Indies players along with chaotic scenes at Sooriyawewa, which led to the realisation that playing the games at Khettarama would add to similar problems. It was still a building site and little had changed since the second Test which began three weeks ago. Although nothing official has been released by the West Indies team management, it is understood they have complained to their board over the arrangements for the tour in which the second and third Tests were played at two venues that resembled building sites. Dressing rooms were found to be inadequate at Khettarama and Pallekele and that at Hambantota is far from ready. There were also temporary media centres at the three venues with the print media being made to do with what was available. However, the Sri Lanka secretariat of the ICC CWC11 organising committee, in a panic, pressed SLC to play the games, despite the venues being two months behind schedule and the incessant rain. It is believed the ICC are now starting to ask questions about the state of the three venues as rain continues to hamper construction. A planned promotion of Pallekele on Saturday has been delayed a week as the rain in the area has caused a major delay in finishing various sections of the stadium. Another concern at Hambantota is how the TV company have battled to install camera equipment because part of the stadium needed for full match coverage is far from ready. The cancellation and repositioning of the series is seen as a major embarrassment for those involved with the tour, the CWC11 planning exercise and the ICC along with presenting yet again maladministration, which after the Commonwealth Games fiasco is something it cannot afford. Spin it as much as you like, Hambantota's first foray into international sport has been an unmitigated disaster. As they say in a country that has a proud history of organising four Commonwealth Games seamlessly "they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamesSL Posted December 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 nice article "Trevor is making a mountain out of a mole hill" :lol: :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuigiVercotti Posted December 19, 2010 Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 nice article "Trevor is making a mountain out of a mole hill" :lol: :lol: Well at least he can build something, unlike the Chinese workers at the unfinished stadium: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamesSL Posted December 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2010 Well at least he can build something, unlike the Chinese workers at the unfinished stadium: sri lanka sworld cup venues are on track and will be ready by time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordvader Posted December 20, 2010 Report Share Posted December 20, 2010 Well to be honest Pallekele Stadium (shown above) is definitely close to completion. However the same cant be said for Premadasa and Hambantota stadiums, which apparently are only half constructed (pics can be seen on Cricinfo's site regarding the SL v West Indies tournament). Honestly these stadiums shouldve been completed ages ago and theres no excuse as to why they werent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuigiVercotti Posted December 20, 2010 Report Share Posted December 20, 2010 Well to be honest Pallekele Stadium (shown above) is definitely close to completion. However the same cant be said for Premadasa and Hambantota stadiums, which apparently are only half constructed (pics can be seen on Cricinfo's site regarding the SL v West Indies tournament). Honestly these stadiums shouldve been completed ages ago and theres no excuse as to why they werent. Exactly LV...it's fair enough to compliment progress where it has met deadlines but the key issue that shows how inadequate sports administration has been in SL is that the deadline was November 30th (i.e. 3 weeks ago). We're not talking about rebuilding the MCG's Great Southern Stand or redeveloping Lords...we're talking about the delivery of new major venues for one of the premier international cricket championships in a country that has performed at its best in cricket, and yet the ICC has been forced to issue severe warnings about progress. How anyone can construe from this that a far more complex project such as presenting a CGs can be delivered without even worse practices from the local sports administrators is guilty of jingoistic ignorance. If Delhi struggled so badly with far greater resources how can anyone take the current situation in Hambantota to be a reassurance for future safe and best practices? No sane person in any position of experience or responsibility or insight into the CGs or any similar or larger sporting festival could full stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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