Sri Lanka to host first ever South Asian Beach Games [November 16 2010]

Sri Lanka will host the first ever South Asian Beach Games in Hambantota next year, President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka Hemasiri Fernando said today.

Addressing a media conference at the Main Press Centre (MPC) here this morning, Fernando said all South Asian nations have given their concent for Sri Lanka’s eleventh hour bid to host the inaugural South Asian Beach Games in the Southern Sri Lanka.

“The South Asian nations have been discussing to have this type of Beach Games for nearly five years. In fact, Maldives and Bangladesh have put forward their bids to host the first ever Games. However, we wanted to prove a point before we present our host bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and all South Asian national NOCs gave their consent our last minute bid,” a happy Fernando disclosed.

Fernando said Sri Lanka will try to host the Asian Beach Games in a highly successful manner and prove its organizational skills before the deadline to present the formal bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in May next year. “Hambantota will be hosting the World Cup cricket and then the South Asian Beach Games. That would add more weight to Hambantota’s bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games,” he said.