2011 Cricket World Cup: Chairman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 Cricket Board Rejects media reports
Chairman Sri Lanka Cricket Board, Dandeniyage Somachandra De Silva has slammed the media for reporting falsely over the delay in construction of World Cup venues.
“Can you take seriously what those newspapers say? Have those newspapers ever said anything good?" De Silva said.
Earlier this month, there were media reports circulating, which suggested that Sri Lanka was falling behind in completing the construction of cricket grounds for the upcoming World Cup that is set to begin from the 19th of
February. The event will be jointly hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
The Sunday Leader claimed that its reporters were not allowed to visit the site of three cricket grounds by authorities in Sri Lanka, which suggested that the Board was trying to hide the delay in the construction of these grounds
from the media. The three stadiums included the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Pallekele Stadium in Kandy and Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota.
However, DS de Silva adamantly rejected this claim by the weekly newspaper and reiterated that the Board had nothing to hide from the rest of the world. “We haven't stopped anybody from visiting the venues. They can now visit the
venues and publish their reports. We are not bothered about what those newspapers say.” De Silva said.
The Chairman further added that the stadiums mentioned by the weekly were not running behind their schedule and would be ready for the mega event within time. He said, “Both R Premadasa Stadium and Pallekele Stadium are 99% ready.
I hope Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium will also be ready soon. Apart from Hambantota, only the cleaning phase is left in the other two stadiums."
When asked why the media reported in such manner regarding the preparation of the three venues, De Silva stated that the media had apparently gone silent after witnessing the preparations being carried out at the cricket stadiums.
“Those who questioned about the venues are not saying anything now. When they see the progress on television, those newspapers are now really surprised how we managed to build three international stadiums within nine months," the chairman explained.
He however, admitted the fact that recent rains in Sri Lanka had affected the construction of the stadium in Hambantota where Sri Lanka will be hosting its first game of the 2011 World Cup on 20 February.
Earlier this month, the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 had revealed that five venues out of the fifteen were behind schedule in the three host countries.
Tags: