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.