Sports Ministry launches strategic plan to take sports to the village

By Cheranka Mendis

The Sports Ministry will be aggressively looking at taking sports to the village by constructing more sports complexes and adding new sports fields to the local network. 

Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage on Tuesday said that the Sports Ministry was launching a new seven-year strategic plan according to which the Ministry aimed at introducing more sports to the villages and improving infrastructure. 

He stated that only a limited number of sports such as volley ball, cricket and football have reached the villages and the Government is keen on introducing new sports that are internationally accepted by all.

The Government is now looking at building sports complexes and playgrounds for the villages, Aluthgamage said. 

“Under the seven-year strategic plan we hope to build nine playgrounds in the nine provinces by 2016. 

This year work on four of such grounds will be completed while the initial work for construction will start next month. The President wants us to start the first sporting complex in Kilinochchi. Accordingly the other three to be constructed within the year will be in Anuradhapura, Uva Province and North Western Province. They are laying the groundwork for the work to kick start next month,” Aluthgamage said.

During the 2012/2013 period another four will be added and by 2016 all nine will be completed.

Under the plan 25 playgrounds will also come up in 25 districts where the divisional sectaries will be given the responsibility of maintenance, improvement and introducing new sports to the youth.

“There are 52 sports in the world from which only four or five have reached the villages today. We are keen on introducing other sports and seeing the progress.

 It has been noted that over the years, the majority of sportsmen have come from the villages even though infrastructure facilities and training are most often centred in the Western Province.”

He also stated that the Ministry intended to classify sport competitions, identify the ones in which Sri Lankans show great potential and winning capacities and improve on them. 

Sporting events thus picked out would get attention from the Government and the State hopes to bring down foreign trainers, the necessary technology and international standards to take forward the events.

The XXI Commonwealth Games for which Sri Lanka handed over the bid in Malaysia in May this year is also included in the seven-year plan. The development of the gaming village and other activities are also under the plan, the Minister said.