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Sri Lanka makes strong pitch to host 2018 Commonwealth Games
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday made a strong pitch for port city Hambantota to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, for which Australia's Gold Coast is also in the fray.
Rajapaksa made a brief speech at the Sports Breakfast organised here on the sidelines of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and said that winning the bid to host the Games would be a "life changing event" in his country's history.
Gold Coast and Hambantota have bid to host the 2018 Games and a vote at an assembly in St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean on November 11 would decide the venue.
Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka was keen to emulate Malaysia, which hosted the Games in 1998 and witnessed large scale economic development in the years that followed.
He pledged to finish building all accommodations and sporting facilities by 2015, saying that the bid had his government's "highest backing".
Rajapaksa mentioned that Australia had hosted the Games on earlier occasions as well. Sri Lanka will be hosting the next CHOGM in Colombo in 2013.
Sri Lanka makes strong pitch to host 2018 CWG - The Times of India
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday made a strong pitch for port city Hambantota to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, for which Australia's Gold Coast is also in the fray.
Rajapaksa made a brief speech at the Sports Breakfast organised here on the sidelines of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and said that winning the bid to host the Games would be a "life changing event" in his country's history.
Gold Coast and Hambantota have bid to host the 2018 Games and a vote at an assembly in St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean on November 11 would decide the venue.
Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka was keen to emulate Malaysia, which hosted the Games in 1998 and witnessed large scale economic development in the years that followed.
He pledged to finish building all accommodations and sporting facilities by 2015, saying that the bid had his government's "highest backing".
Rajapaksa mentioned that Australia had hosted the Games on earlier occasions as well. Sri Lanka will be hosting the next CHOGM in Colombo in 2013.
Sri Lanka makes strong pitch to host 2018 CWG - The Times of India
