Colombo : India will fund building a brand new cricket stadium in Sri Lanka's southern Hambantota district, where the authorities expect to host at least a couple of 2011 World Cup matches.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Competent Authority S. Liyanagama has said the Hambantota International Cricket Stadium "will be introduced to the ICC list as an alternate venue but will subsequently be named as one of the main venues to host World Cup matches to be played in Sri Lanka in February 2011".
"We are hoping to start construction work by the end of March. The major portion of the financing for this project will come from India and we have formalized the preliminary work,"local Sunday Times newspaper quoted Liyanagama, who is also secretary to the ministry of sports, as saying.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - the four major cricket playing nations in the sub-continent - are billed to co-host the event which will run for six weeks and have a maximum of 49 matches. Of the 15 World Cup venues, eight would be in India, four in Pakistan, two in Sri Lanka and one in Bangladesh.
According to SLC CEO Duleep Mendis, at present the first choices of the Sri Lanka venues are the R. Premadasa Stadium and the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, where day-night matches could be held.
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