Hambantota a sports hub

Hambantota is set to become the sports hub of Sri Lanka with moves to build a new state of the art athletics stadium and a golf course in the area just months after the construction of a new cricket stadium was completed.

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapasa made these revelations in an interview with the Times of India where he also said that the infrastructure will be set in place to hold major events in the district by opening a new airport and hotels.

Excerpts of the interview:

You've realised your goal of having international cricket matches staged here, the tough task is to sustain interest in cricket among the locals after these two World Cup games.

It's not tough. Certainly not as tough as convincing the cricket board and the other authorities to come and build this facility. When we identified the land in 2006, this was a poor village. The road was only eight feet wide and it was made of mud. Now, because of the stadium, we have a double road. So development has taken place. We are happy to bring the WC to Hambantota , but we don't want to relax. We have bigger plans in store to develop this place.

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