Details of the new event were announced by Hemasiri Fernando, President of the Sri Lankan Olympic Committee at a press conference in Guangzhou, where he is attending the Asian Games.

"The South Asian nations have been discussing to have this type of Beach Games for nearly five years," said Fernando.

"In fact, Maldives and Bangladesh have put forward their bids to host the first ever Games.

"However, we wanted to prove a point before we present our host bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and all South Asian national NOCs (National Olympic Committees) gave their consent our last minute bid."

Fernando is confident that the success of the Games will help establish that Hambantota is capable of staging major international events and help give it an edge over the Gold Coast, the Australian city which is their only rival.

"Hambantota will be hosting the World Cup cricket and then the South Asian Beach Games," he said.

"That would add more weight to Hambantota's bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games."

The Games will consist of a variety of modern sports and variants of traditional sports such as beach volleyball.

The Commonwealth Games Federation are due to announce the host of the 2018 Commonwealth Games at a meeting in St Kitts and Nevis on November 11, 2011.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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