The vote for 23-year-old Rajapaksa, the eldest son of Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa who graduated from City University in London only last year, in Hambantota exceeded more than 88 per cent as his father's party, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), easily retained power, winning at least 120 of the 225 seats in Parliament.

It was Namal Rajapaksa who proposed that Hambantota should bid for the Games, as the city continues to recover from the 2004 tsunami and the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war.

He had already held a series of discussions with Nalin Attygalle, who has produced an early bid document, and his team members about constructing a sports village.

The team has also met the President and the Secretary to the President in this connection, who have both guaranteed their support.

But now that Rajapaksa has such an overwhelming mandate he is expected to push on with the bid and make it one of the main aims of his term.

Less than 24 hours after the election, Rajapaksa and his father this morning inspected the construction of the proposed International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota (pictured), which is expected to be the centrepiece of the Commonwealth Games if they are awarded to Sri Lanka.



Sri Lanka are expected to lodge their non-refundable deposit of £60,000 ($91,000) to confirm their bid with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) at its headquarters in London later this week before the deadline of next Friday (April 16).

They will start as second favourites behind Australia's Gold Coast, the only other city that is bidding for the Games.

Attygalle said: "It’s an enormous task true, but it’s not an impossible task."

Besides the new cricket stadium being built for next year's World Cup, there are also plans to build a new international seaport, international airport, international convention centre and a cinema village before the end of next year.

It is estimated that it will cost up to £1.8 billion ($2.7 billion) to build new facilities, including stadiums, and other infrastructure.

Attygalle said: "We have no intention of burdening the Government for funds as we will be looking at foreign investors for this."

Attygalle, who worked on the South East Asian Games which Sri Lanka hosted in 2006, claimed that the Commonwealth Games would help raise the country's profile on the international stage.

Attygalle, a former head of the National Sports Council, said that he hoped it would also encourage the Government to invest in sports.

Attygalle said: "To be successful we need to start [preparing] now.

"We need a national sports policy.

"Start identifying medal prospective events and then start hunting for the talents and train them.

"We need to do this."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
April 2010: Gold Coast Mayor has doubts over Commonwealth Games rival
April 2010: Sri Lankan President promises support for Hambantota Commonwealth Games bid
March 2010: Shock as Abuja do not bid for 2018 Commonwealth Games but Sri Lanka does
December 2009: Commonwealth Games 2018 bid race officially underway