World Cup promotional campaign today at Hambantota
by Chris DHAMBARAGE
CRICKET: The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) World Cup Organizing Committee
will launch their official promotional campaign for the International
Cricket Council World Cup 2011 with a series of mega events lined up at
the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota today
(Sunday).
In fact the ground in Sooriyawewa will host the opening two matches
of the World Cup with Sri Lanka taking on Canada on February 20 and
followed by the clash between Kenya and Pakistan on February 23 at the
same venue. The reservation of tickets for the ICC Cricket World Cup
will take place at this venue after a tree planting ceremony which will
symbolize the heralding an era of hope, anticipation and excitement as
the tournament draws near.
The official ticket of course was presented earlier to President
Mahinda Rajapaksa during a ceremony held in Colombo where the official
mascot for the ICC Cricket World Cup was also unveiled.
Sri Lanka Cricket has also joined hands with the Ministry of Sports
with regard to the 'Clean and Green' campaign and the tree planting
ceremony will take place under the patronage of Sports Minister C.B.
Ratnayake and Hambantota District Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa.
This will be Sri Lanka's third floodlit International Cricket Stadium
when the West Indies play the hosts in the first one day international
on December 9 with the second one day international also scheduled for
the same venue on December 11.
Sooriyawewa was one of the best locations Sri Lanka could provide in
building up an international cricket venue. With the area being
developed to be a commercial centre in the southern part of Sri Lanka,
Sooriyawewa has much to offer the visiting cricket fans from around the
world.
The floodlights are the main feature of the stadium and once the
stadium is totally completed it is expected to resemble a pearl shaped
object. The stadium is expected to fulfill the minimum ICC requirement
of holding at least 30,000 spectators.
The grandstand alone will hold 8,000 spectators while a total of
20,000 permanent seats will be fixed while the standing pavilions will
have the capacity to hold 15,000 spectators.
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