Ganguly, Gavaskar join Botham on charity walk across Sri Lanka
Wednesday, 6 November 2013 00:00
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PTI Pinnawala (Sri Lanka): Former India captains Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar on Monday joined England cricket legend Sir Ian Botham on Beefy’s Big Sri Lanka Walk on the fourth and toughest day yet of the fundraising trek for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation across the country.
The 25-miles from Kandy to Pinnawala was twice the distance completed the previous day and the heat was approaching 45 degrees to make things even tougher.
Funds raised from the Sri Lanka walk, staged with the backing of SriLankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Tourism, will go to help sports-based community projects, including those operated by the Foundation of Goodness in Sri Lanka with the support of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
The fourth stage of the Walk, from the north to the south of Sri Lanka, started in the bustling city of Kandy, where scores of cricket fans filled the streets to see the three legends of cricket, and finished at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.
“It was an unbelievable experience. What I`ve seen Ian do is unreal,” said Ganguly.
Gavaskar added: “It’s a fantastic thing to come to a completely different country and do a charity walk. The energy he brings, the pace he sets, he left all us behind, so hats off to him. The way he supports his causes is a lesson to us all.”
Botham has to maintain an average pace of 20 miles a day for eight days in fierce temperatures if he is to reach Seenigama in the south of the country by his target date of 8 November.
He has been taking part in walks for charity for almost 30 years and he admitted in Pinnawala: “Today was the toughest day of walking I have ever had. The best bit of the Walk was definitely the finish.”
Over the period of the walk, many great cricketers such as Australian captains Steve Waugh and Allan Border and Indian and Sri Lankan stars Ganguly, Gavaskar, Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakarra, plus South African rugby legend Morn du Plessis have all pledged to join Botham at various stages to support him.
