The Commonwealth Games as Sri Lanka's Saving Grace

Legacy is a term that anyone familiar with the 2012 London Olympic build-up will be well aware of. It’s a key issue in the hosting of large scale sporting events such as the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, and in this case the Commonwealth Games.

For most cities the legacy of these events involves sporting facilities, new transport links and regeneration of rundown areas. But for Hambantota in Sri Lanka, the legacy created by the 2018 Commonwealth Games would be far more significant.

As well as reaping the benefits listed above, a Commonwealth Games in Hambantota would allow for many more areas of Sri Lankan life to be improved. Energy, water, electricity, telecommunications and educational facilities are just some of the resources that would be significantly boosted.

Ajith Nivard Cabraal is Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is heading up Hambantota’s 2018 Commonwealth Games bid. Speaking about the significance of the games to the Sri Lankan population he says: ‘They recognise that it would be a fantastic opportunity to put the history of conflict and the devastation of the Tsunami behind them and move forward with new hope, peace, reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction.’

Cabraal is hoping that the voting countries understand the importance of the games to his nation and is counting on this to have an effect on their decisions. He adds: ‘It is clear to everyone Hambantota and Sri Lanka would undergo a massive change of as a result of the Commonwealth Games being held in 2018.’

The bid which has been put together by Cabraal and his team will receive its fate on Friday 11 November when the 71 Commonwealth nations meet in St Kitts and Nevis. Hambantota is up against the bid of Gold Coast, Australia and the difference between the two cities could not be greater.

Hambantota v Gold Coast

Where Hambantota is focusing on the rebuilding of a nation the people of Gold Coast, through no fault of their own, have no such worries. The Australian city is already highly developed so organisers have focused on the making their bid as environmentally friendly as possible.

As admirable as this is, it pales in importance compared to the need for the rebuilding of both Hambantota’s structures and its community. The city was left devastated by the 2004 Asian Tsunami which killed 40,000, destroyed villages and left more than one million people homeless in Sri Lanka. The resulting recovery operation was severely hampered by the ongoing civil war in the country which caused more than 100,000 deaths in its 26 year span.

The resolution of conflict within the country in 2009 allowed all government and community efforts to focus on the redevelopment of a nation that had suffered such great damages. This redevelopment has come in the form of a ten year plan drawn up under the supervision of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The plan, titled ‘Taking Sri Lanka to 2020’, was designed to restabilise the country’s economy and wellbeing with sport due to play a significant part.



Hambantota during the 2011 Cricket World Cup - Photo: Stringers of Sri Lanka Hambantota during the 2011 Cricket World Cup - Photo: Stringers of Sri Lanka

Celebrating Diversity

The other city in the running to host the Games, Gold Coast, is described by Cabraal as an ‘event ready city’ - a factor that he is hoping will count against them. He explains: ‘Global sports organisations are keen to promote new cities to get ready for global sporting events.’

This observation certainly has some validity in the case of FIFA. Sepp Blatter and his colleagues have been on a mission to take the World Cup to all corners of the globe. Regardless of whether Qatar proves to be one step too far, the success of events in less-established sporting nations has been undeniable.

With regard to the Commonwealth Games, this method has only recently been implemented with Delhi hosting last year’s event. Historically, Australia has dominated the Games whether bidding or competing. Since the Commonwealth Games became the official name of the event in 1978, Australia have hosted three of the nine games. On the field of play, the Oceanic nation has collected more medals than any other – 2,080, an average of just under 110 per games.

At the launch of the bids in May the Commonwealth Games Vice-President Tunku Imran’s speech highlighted the importance of 'celebrating the diversity of the commonwealth'. While it's easy to use people's words against them, if any of this statement is even remotely considered by the voting countries then there will surely be only one outcome.

Mark Davidson Smith has been working on the bid for pmplegacy, a consultancy briefed to assist Mr Cabraal and his team in a successful bid. He is convinced that this diversity factor will be crucial in the countries' voting. He explains: ‘It should have a huge effect. This is a Commonwealth event but 63 of 71 countries have not hosted the games.’

Delhi's Commonwealth Games Stadium - Photo: null0

 

A Sporting Precedent

The deciding factor may therefore be whether the voting countries have been convinced that Hambantota’s infrastructure will be able to cope with such a large event. Smith is confident that the plans in place leave the city in an ideal position to deal with the pressures that the Games will bring.

‘All capacity issues have been considered. The compact design [of the main venue] allows for numerous economies of scale,’ he adds.

Regarding this issue, Mr Cabraal draws attention to Kuala Lumpur which hosted the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He notes that similar fears were raised about the Malaysian capital’s ability to successfully host the Games but that these proved to be unfounded.

He explains: ‘In 1991, when they bid for the 1998 Games, the Malaysian economy, population and several other factors were almost identical to that of Sri Lanka today. This is a powerful pointer that a similar success could occur in Sri Lanka as well.’

Despite Mr Cabraal’s best arguments, the success of such large sporting events is never guaranteed, just look at Athens and Delhi’s last minute preparations and problems. So perhaps hosting the 2018 Games in Hambantota is more of a risk than doing so in Gold Coast. But given all of the evidence available and the potential significance of the games in Sri Lanka, it’s a risk well worth taking.

AFC Wimbledon out of Carling Cup Before it Began

The first round of the Carling Cup provided a whole host of entertainment this week with 108 goals being scored and six ties decided by penalties.

However, one side who weren’t able to join in the festivities were AFC Wimbledon who lost in the first preliminary round to take place since 2002. Wimbledon went down 3-2 to fellow promoted side Crawley Town on Friday 29^th July and were subsequently knocked out of the 2011-2012 Carling Cup before it even began.

This was only the second time that a League Cup preliminary round has been necessary and was so because of Birmingham City’s relegation to the Championship. As current holders of the League Cup, City are seeded through to the third round meaning that one less side was required for the first round draw.

As the two sides promoted from the Blue Square Conference and therefore the lowest seeded sides, Wimbledon and Crawley were required to play each other in a single match to be decided on the night. Having lost the match AFC Wimbledon will, barring relegation, have to wait one more year in order to make their first ever appearance in the League Cup.

AFC Wimbledon celebrating their promotion – Photo: rockinpaddy

After the disappointing result, Wimbledon manager Terry Brown was keen to take the positives and work towards a successful year.

He added: “We have four days’ preparation to learn the lessons of last night and make sure we start our time in the Football League with a positive performance and result.

“I won’t be drawing too many drastic conclusions from this as I do feel that this was a particularly difficult fixture played at a ridiculously early time of the season.”

Indeed Wimbledon fans can consider themselves unfortunate as the requirement to play a League Cup preliminary round is a rare event. This was only the second time in the cup's history that the round has been necessary. The first resulted in a 2-0 victory for Boston United against Bristol Rovers in a year that saw Liverpool win the then-named Worthington Cup.

Unfortunately Wimbledon were unable to get the positive result Brown had hoped for after a late Adam Virgo penalty allowed Bristol Rovers to run out 3-2 winners on Saturday. Despite a disappointing first two games, Wimbledon will still be confident of cementing their place in league football, which if successful, will guarantee them a first round spot in the League Cup next season.

Namibia Hoping to Improve on Last Time's Last Place

With Rugby World Cup preparations well under way and the first of many pre-tournament friendlys beginning this week, the sports media has turned its attention to the preparation and prospects of many of world rugby’s top teams.

However, one team due to be in New Zealand this autumn that you won’t see much of in the sports pages is Namibia. The African side are ranked 20^th in the IRB rankings and were the only side in the 2007 World Cup in France not to gain a group point. They suffered heavy defeats to Argentina, France and Georgia while putting in a better performance in a 32-17 loss to Ireland.

Things certainly won’t be much easier this time round for the Namibians as they face defending world champions South Africa in Pool D as well as Fiji, Samoa and Wales. Despite this, captain and Saracens flanker Jacques Burger remains confident that his side will be able to pick up their first World Cup win.

He admitted in an interview with Namibia Sport: “I believe we can come off with one win, we’re not going to target any side but I think we’ve got what it takes to win a match in the World Cup.”

However, he certainly wasn’t getting carried away as he added: “It’s going to be tough to win any games. We’re playing against top sides so if we can win any game it would be amazing.

“If we don’t, we want to perform well, we’re not going just going to be looking at results, we just want to perform at our absolute best and make our country proud.”

Burger has just finished a highly successful season with Saracens where he was named the club’s player of the season and featured in their Premiership Grand Final win over Leicester. While Burger’s the only name likely to be known among English rugby fans, he’s not the only player playing in the professional game. Ruan Kitshoff and Danie Damens play for the Western Province and Leopards Currie Cup sides respectively while scrum half Ryan de la Harpe plays for Birmingham side Moseley and has made a number of appearances for Sale.

Namibia Rugby – Photo: ozjimbob

Besides these and a small number of other players, the Namibian rugby squad is made up of amateurs with the sport receiving very little funding – a fact that Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) CEO Christo Alexander is all too aware of.

He was forced to cancel two of the sides World Cup warm up matches against an Argentina Pumas Invitational side due to a lack of money.

He explained: “We would have had to cover all their costs. We do not have that kind of money, especially since we are going to the World Cup.”

Instead the side is having to make do with just a friendly against a South African Universities side this week at the teams stadium – the Hage Geingob Stadium.

Alexander emphasised the importance of this match by saying: “We are using the match as preparation for the World Cup and it is much needed game time.”

Despite their financial restrictions and having less than 1,000 players to choose from, the NRU remain hopeful of a first World Cup win. Under the leadership of one of the Premiership’s leading players, Namibia will be hoping that 2011 is the time for it.



US Open's Unknown European

Anyone that follows golf will be well aware that European golf is currently in particularly rude health. The top four players in the world, the Ryder Cup and two Major Championships all belong to Europe.

Rory McIlroy’s victory in the US Open at Congressional has potentially opened the floodgates for what many are hailing as a golden era for the continent’s golfers. However, professional golf – even if you’re European - is not all major victories and top world rankings, just ask Matthew Richardson. The 26 year old Englishman didn’t have such a great time of it at Congressional as his tournament finished on Friday having shot 77 and 81.

Richardson’s final score of 16-over after two rounds was worsened only by US amateur Michael Barbosa. Despite the unfortunate position, Richardson was just happy to be playing amongst golfing greats.

Earlier that month he’d told reporters: “When you’re rubbing shoulders with the best in the world, it’s either going to elevate your game or it’s going to make it dwindle and I’ve always played my best golf when I’m in the deep end.”

Congressional GC – Photo: Keith Allison

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case in Bethesda as Richardson carded seven bogeys and two double-bogeys in his second round to end Friday 13 shots below the cut. This left him 27 shots behind leader Rory McIlroy although this comparison is harsh given the Ulster man’s complete domination of the event.

This wasn’t the first disappointment that Richardson has endured during his professional career. After a promising time as an amateur where he made the cut at the 2005 British Open and won both his singles matches as a member of the 2005 Walker Cup side, Richardson turned pro and joined the European Tour. However he lost his tour card after making just three cuts in 15 tournaments and then signed up to the US Nationwide Tour where he has remained.

After earning his place at Congressional through a sectional qualifier in New Jersey two weeks before the event, Richardson was counting on previous US Open experience after he came T77th in 2010. While this didn’t come to fruition, Richardson still has hopes of returning to the major tours: “It’s been a while since I played on the top tours. I’m itching to get back there, really,” he says.

Not all players follow similar routes to that of McIlroy. Ángel Cabrera and Mark O’Meara are two players who didn’t find major success until more than 15 years as professionals. Considering these examples, it’s certainly not too late for the 26 year Londoner.  

2011 Wimbledon's First Failure

British tennis player Katie O’Brien showed that there really is a silver lining to every cloud after becoming the first person to be knocked out of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships.

Just 64 minutes after play commenced at SW19, O’Brien was left to reflect on her misfortunes after going down 6-0, 7-5 to Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm. Despite the early loss, O’Brien remained upbeat and noted that she was proud of the way she fought back after having been “annihilated in the first set”.

O’Brien’s 40 year old Japanese opponent showed all her experience by keeping the ball in play and was happy to allow the 24 year old Brit to contribute heavily to her own downfall. This came primarily thanks to 19 unforced errors as well as just 63% of first serve successes in comparison to Date-Krumm’s 83%.

While disappointing, the loss did mean that O’Brien was able to take in the full experience of Wimbledon – a benefit that she certainly appeared to be taking advantage of. Later that day she tweeted: “I’ve just been sat in the rain on Henman Hill with friends and family drowning my sorrows with a Pimms!!!”



Henman Hill - Photo: Roo Reynolds

She continued to enjoy the Wimbledon atmosphere the following day by cheering on Irish hopeful Conor Niland during his defeat to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.  This was followed by an interview with Sky Sports’ Georgie Thompson and a spot of commentating for the BBC.

She later posted on Twitter: “Had a fun day of spectating & commentating.”

O’Brien later turned her attention to a report in the Daily Mail which had claimed that she was considering quitting. She commented: “I was a bit perplexed as to why so many were asking if I was quitting. Having just been shown the headline in the Daily Mail, I now know why.”

Rubbishing the report O’Brien claimed: “I did NOT say I was quitting. Just thought I’d set the record straight!”

Despite the false claims, O’Brien certainly appears to be enjoying her free time around the All England Club with her early loss failing to dampen her spirits.