State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rohana Dissanayake said that arrangements have been made to open the Matalai artificial hockey ground and the artificial hockey ground in Reed Mawatha in Colombo under the leadership of President Ranil Wickramasinghe before July 15.
He also mentioned that steps have been taken to establish a new era in the sports industry by resolving the legal issues in some sports federations.
State Minister Rohana Dissanayake said this at a press conference held at the Presidential Media Center today (07).
State Minister Rohana Dissanayake who further commented here,
The artificial hockey ground in Colombo Reed Mawatha and the Mattala artificial hockey ground are being modernized, where development work has been stalled for many years. For that, a special program has been implemented as per the recommendation of President Ranil Wickramasinghe and Sports Minister Harin Fernando.
Under this, 140 million rupees have been spent on the artificial hockey ground in Matalai and 160 million rupees on the artificial hockey ground in Reed Mawatta, Colombo. According to this, these two hockey grounds are planned to be opened before the 15th of July under the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Also, 67 National Sports Federations are registered under the Sports Development Department of the Ministry of Sports. 05 National Sports Federations have been cancelled.
In addition, Sri Lanka Cycling Federation, Sri Lanka Rugby Federation, Sri Lanka Automobile Federation, Sri Lanka Netball Federation have not been updated before May 31, so there is a problem. The Sports Minister, through a special gazette, has empowered the Director General of Sports, Rear Admiral Shamal Fernando, to take necessary steps to resolve these issues.
Court proceedings are ongoing on petitions filed on behalf of 03 sports federations. We believe that solving these problems can usher in a new era in sports.
And in the last budget, the President allocated 1.5 billion rupees for the development of school cricket. According to this, a project is being carried out to take school cricket to a new path in collaboration with the School Cricket Association.
