Sports Minister Harin Fernando on yet another occasion reiterated that Sri Lanka was very much part and parcel of India and the tiny island was keenly depended not just for tourist dollars but also for the country’s sporting welfare.
Minister Fernando was a special invitee at the launch of the rebranding of a franchise team to take part in the fifth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) T20 championship what is slated for July on Monday at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.
The new franchise team was unveiled as Galle Marvels that will be owned and cared for by three Indian businessmen who have also created a new team called the Moratuwa Marvels that will contest the inaugural Lanka T10 championship later in December.
“I like to say to all our investors and owners of (LPL) teams to look beyond cricket. Sri Lanka has followers of other sports as well and you can also do some franchise tournaments in other sports. Why not look at rugby and football,” Fernando told the owners of the Galle Marvels and Moratu Marvels and the overall rights holder of the LPL and Lanka T10 who are all Indians.
Last month Minister Fernando came in for condemnation by Opposition MPs in Parliament for making public statements to the effect that Sri Lanka was a part of India which they charged as a sell-out to India.
Fernando who is also the Minister of Tourism said his remarks were taken out of context and that what he said only referred to making Indian tourists feel at home when they visit Sri Lanka.
At Monday’s launch of the new LPL franchise team Minister Fernando claimed his one desire was to take Sri Lanka to the world through cricket and praised both the new sports investors in the island.
“I like to see franchise cricket in Sri Lanka reach the highest level with other countries. The government will give you a hundred per cent support to make it a success. This is an ideal platform to support tourism and nobody can be more excited than I am,” said Fernando.
He was presented with the team shirt of the Galle Marvels by its trio of Indian owners Malav Patel, Neil Patel and Himanshu Patel who have contracted one of South Africa’s iconic players of the past Lance Klusener as the team’s coach with England’s Alex Hales as the stand-out or iconic player.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who is the Consultant of the Sri Lanka team, will be the coach of the Moratu Marvels for the Lanka T10.
