Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Popularity of Baseball on the rise

- By Shamzeer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Baseball (SLB) has launched a massive developmen­t programme to take the game to the rural youth of Sri Lanka. This game has improved leaps and bounds in the recent past, with Sri Lanka hosting its first- ever internatio­nal tournament in the form of the West Asia Baseball Cup. They managed to beat a strong Pakistani outfit in a thriller.

Baseball has been in Sri Lanka for over three-decades, but only in the recent times that it indicated of becoming one of the popular sports in the country. This year alone, they have already conducted district level tournament­s in Galle and Matale. Sri

Lanka Baseball has also conducted awareness programmes in Galle, with the participat­ion of 11 schools and in Laggala with the participat­ion of eight schools. SLB is conducting a district tournament in Kandy, which commenced yesterday will continue today (26) as well at the Ranabima Royal College grounds in Gatambe.

Sri Lanka also has been invited to play in the Asian Championsh­ips following their success in the West Asia Cup. With more support from the Ministries of Education and Sports and possibly from sponsors, Baseball can be one of the sports Sri Lanka will be able to compete at internatio­nal level with a lot of pride.

 ??  ?? Amila Pathiraja donating Baseball equipments to Laggala area
Amila Pathiraja donating Baseball equipments to Laggala area

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