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| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
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Basketball to be popularised Sri Lanka will play in four basketball tournaments overseas, while engaging in one in Colombo. Then there will be five sides from Germany and one from Belgium playing in Colombo during the course of this year. The Lankan under-23 side will figure at the Middle Asia Zone (qualifying) Championship for Young Men in July in Bangladesh, while the under-19 side will be playing at the Middle Asia Zone (qualifying) Championship for junior men also in July in Kyrgystan. The 18th FIBA Asia Championship also for junior men is scheduled to be staged in India in September, while the 4th FIBA Asia Championship for young men is down to be worked off in Iran also in September. The 4th India South Zone/Sri Lanka Championship for men and women will be staged at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium from September 8 to 12 involving Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andra Pradesh, Karnataka, Pondicherry and Sri Lanka. Then the German and Belgium sides who have confirmed their visit will play in an competition with Sri Lanka (seven altogether) in late Septemberr and the tourists are also scheduled to play a series of games against district sides in Kandy, Batticaloa, Galle, Anuradhapura and Diyatalawa. The six teams from overseas are coming to Sri Lanka at their own expense. The preliminaries of the 2003 Senior National Championship is to be worked off in both Colombo and Gampaha in July with the finals down for decision at Hambantota in August. The preliminaries and final rounds of the 2004 Senior Nationals for both men and women is scheduled to be staged in Colombo in December, while the Junior Nationals for men and women (under-23 and over-18) is scheduled for January next year (2005) at Polonnaruwa and the Junior Nationals for men and women (under-18) down for decision in February next year at Galle. The President of the Sri Lanka Basketball federation (SLBF), DIG Balasuriya, who was elected to office unanimously only last friday (May 28) after the resignation of ex-DIG Ignatius Canageratnam, disclosed the above details after his election, and said to forget the past if the SLBF wants to go forward, and that he will visit the outstations and meet with officials, players etc and promote the game which has a lot of talent in the rural areas. Balasuriya further said that he will see that all scheduled tournaments will be conducted during the calendar year, and exhibition games involving the national side, services and Police teams will be played even in the outstations to give "exposure to our national cagers". He also said that he wanted to improve the standards of the men's and women's national sides with the ultimate goal being to win international games and tournaments. Balasuriya is also determined to develop and build courts in the outstations with the help of local bodies and politicians of the area, but the "main problem is funds to implement our programme successfully but we are certain of finding the necessary sponsors for the promotion of the sport". (LG) |
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