Nittawela Stadium in Rs. 3.2 million facelift

by Lal Gunasekera

RUGBY: Nittawela Stadium, home of Kandy Sports Club, has got a facelift to the tune of Rs. 3.2 million to bring it upto international level and on time for the 10th Singer-SriLankan Airlines International Rugby 7's on September 5,6 and 7.

The Chairman of the Organising Committee, Iswan Omar told the Sunday Observer as this was the 10th anniversary of the tournament started in 1999, Kandy SC and Singer in particular, are very keen on staging the event at Nittawela and not in Colombo as certain quarters are contemplating.

He further said that after Emirates pull out of SriLankan Airlines management at the end of this month (March), the Sri Lankan government is to handle the management part.

Nishantha Wickremasinghe, a Director of SriLankan Airlines, "was very positive that the tournament should be continued" said Omar. Sri Lankan Airlines will play their part added Omar who said that he will discuss the matter further with the relevant authorities of the airline in Colombo in "the next few days."

The Singer-SriLankan Airlines International 7's was part of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Satellite Circuit since 2005, but the IRB decided not to grant IRB status this year (2008) citing "security concerns". Hong Kong has been chosen as the new venue for the IRB Satellite Circuit to be held on October 3 and 4.

Now, Kandy Sports Club, has sent out invitations to 12 countries in the Asian region to compete this year at Nittawela.

The countries are Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Arabian Gulf, Kazakhastan and host country Sri Lanka.