President skips National Sports Festival

By Namal Pathirage

Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge and a team of officials’ making a last minute inspection of the D.A. Rajapaksa Stadium, just before they decided to shift the games to Colombo.

The 33rd National Sports festival will get underway at the Sugathadasa Stadium and fourteen other centres tomorrow as the elaborate arrangements to host the same at the D.A. Rajapaksa Stadium, Beliatta failed. Ironically President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was scheduled to declare open the festival will have to give it a skip as he at present is on a private visit to India on the invitation of a leading newspaper there. Mahaveli Development Minister Maithripala Sirisena will be the chief guest at the opening ceremony which is scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. today, while Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake will chair the proceedings at the closing ceremony on the 16th.

In spite of spending a colossal sum of Rs.50 million the authorities could not get the D.A. Rajapaksa Stadium to a condition that the games could be hosted.

For tomorrow’s games 1926 male competitors and 1377 female competitors will be seen in action. A significant factor of these years’ games is that besides the customary trophies the winners of the respective events will also be given cash awards.

Among the 3303 competitors there will over 200 athletes representing the North. They were transported to Colombo by ship.

However Superintendant of Police Tangalle charged that the games could have been held at the venue as scheduled, but, some officials had misguided the President and other officials to shift the games to Colombo. Dharmasiri Rahubadda who was the contractor in charge of the Beliatta Sports Complex project endorsed the Police SP’s statement and added that even if it rained the D.A, Rajapaksa Stadium has a state-of-the-art under ground system.