The first ever baseball ground in Sri Lanka and also in South Asia constructed at the Mahinda Rajapakse International Sports Complex , Diyagama with the funds provided by Japan will be declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday.
The government of Japan under its Grant Assistance for Cultural Grassroots Projects ( GCGP ) has provided a sum of US $ 111,607 ( approximately Rs 12 million ) of grant assistance along with US $ 136,400 ( approximately Rs 14 million ) from Japan International Cooperation (JICA ) to the Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Development Foundation for the Project for the construction of a Base ball Ground for Youth Training .
The Kamenoi Hotel Chain in Japan also has donated Rs 8.5 million for the construction of the ground at the request of the president of Japan Sri Lanka Baseball Association , Sujeewa Wijayanayake.
The inauguration ceremony will be followed by a friendly baseball match between the Sri Lanka national baseball team and the Kanagawa High school Baseball Federation Team from Japan. There will be another match at the same venue on Monday between the same teams.
International base ball umpire, former Anandian Sujeewa Wijayanake of Sri Lanka and four top class umpires from Japan will conduct a training camp for local umpires on Tuesday at the new ground and at the end of the training the participating local umpires will be ranked.
Japan, as a country where baseball is very popular, has supported the promotion of baseball in Sri Lanka since 2002 by assigning Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers ( JOCV ) as coaches to the Sri Lanka Amateur Baseball / Softball Association, that resulted in gaining popularity among Sri Lankans for baseball .
Successive Japanese baseball coaches have worked hard during the past decade to enhance the base ball skills that attracted an increasing number of youth who have taken a liking to this sport.
As a country took up the sport 10 years ago, Sri Lanka baseball has now reached the level of international competition, ranked 32nd amongst 72 countries in 2011 and has already brought honour to the country by winning the third place in the Asian Cup Championship in Thailand in 2009 as well as securing the second place at the SAARC Base ball Championship in Pakistan in 2011.
In addition the University Student’s baseball team had also qualified for the world University Baseball championship in 2010 while the under 18 team gained 5th place in the 2011 Youth Baseball Championship in Japan.
These achievement were gained despite the lack of facilities such as a suitable and standard baseball ground for proper training. When the necessary facilities are provided Sri Lankan base ball will able to reach the highest level of the game and the new ground at Diyagama will be of utmost importance in that sense.
Commenting on the project, ambassador Nobuhito Hobo told Daily News sports, “ it is significant that the inauguration of the baseball ground coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations while Japan’s support for baseball in Sri Lanka commenced in 2002 , the year Japan and Sri Lanka marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. This project would contribute significantly to further enhancing the cultural relations between the two countries “he added
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