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| Sunday, 02 April 2006 |
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Sangakkara lauds standard Chartered for progressive steps to improve cricket by Ranjan Anandappa Sri Lanka cricket needs progressive business corporations such as Standard Chartered Bank to embrace the sport, to get behind the sport, with their support so that the game actually does become a truly Sri Lankan sport that will spread to every part of the country. Right now cricket is very much concentrated only in a few areas of the country, specially in Colombo , said Kumar Sangakkara at the inauguration ceremony of the Standard Chartered Bank Regional Cricket Credit Card at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo Atrium on Friday. "For cricket to be progressive and innovative and to grow further in Sri Lanka, we too need progressive innovative corporations to join us and support us , and hopefully this might be the start of something fantastic for cricket and Standard Chartered in partnership they could forge, and improve, and hopefully make Sri Lanka cricket a global giant", said Sangakkara. Sangakkara along with former Pakistani cricket captain and commentator, Ramiz Raja and Bob Woolmer the Pakistan cricket coach, were among the distinguished guests at the Cricket Credit Card launch. Sangakkara further said that a lot can be done in the ways of supporting cricket, and specially if we look at our domestic cricket right now, I think most of the clubs are fully funded by the central authority - The Sri Lanka Cricket Board. I think that has to change very soon, because the financial burden of supporting the entire game should not fall on one institution,because the game is so popular", he said and added; "One of the ways we can do that is to find striving sponsors for domestic tournaments and whatever age groups possible, to encourage youngsters to take up the game to provide more opportunities to them financially, by taking part in competitions, and also enable the Sri Lankan Cricket Board to have better tournaments, better facilities,better grounds, better coaching programmes to improve from grass root level to international level to improve the game as a whole, he stressed. "One of the problems we have been having in the past few years, has been the quality of our domestic cricket, and to uplift that, sponsorship and corporate support is very vital at the moment, and if we get a partnership going with whichever corporate sponsor is interested in supporting cricket and cricket as a whole and we make it a progressive one where it is totally geared towards the development and evolution of the game. I think that's the one that we can really go about in improving cricket". Speaking at the launch, the Regional Head of Credit Cards and Personal Loans for Middle East, South Asia and Africa, Standard Chartered, B. Chadrasekera said; "We are a British Bank with a strong franchise and focus in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, all coutries where cricket is a passion, which is why we have developed this value proposition, which is rolled out regionally". The Standard Chartered Cricket Credit Card has been specially created to meet the differing needs and customer lifestyles of it's users and it is loaded with special value additions and incentives for the cricket lover. It offers the first 500 applicants a free Sri Lanka cricket team track suit, discounts at the Austasia cricket shop at it's Sports Complex and the Asian Cricket Academy. Also on the cards are opportunities to meet famous cricketers, win tickets to international matches as well as coaching camps for children of card holders. Vishnu Mohan CEO Standard Chartered Bank Sri Lanka, Shabry Ghouse Head of
Consumer Banking Sri Lanka also spoke. |
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