The 42nd edition of the national sports festival will be held at the Durayappah Stadium from the 29th September to the 02nd October 2016. Over 1700 Athletes and 900 officials will gather to the capital of the northern peninsula where the finals of Athletics, Basketball, Beach Kabadi, Tug of war, & Football will take place.
Briefing the media on this year’s edition of the games, Dayasiri Jayasekara – Minister of Sports and Recreation added that “Since the inception in 1973 this is the first time the national sports festival will be held in Jaffna. This year we have 33 different sports disciplines in the games which include 8 new sports that we have included this year for the first time.”
Photo Album: 42nd National Sports festival – Press Conference
The Minister also went on to mention that the decision was made to take the games to Jaffna to encourage and foster unity between all the communities and also because of the keen interest to make the north a power house in producing champions for the country in the likes of Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam who won Gold at the Asian games in the High Jump in 1958 & K Darmalingam a renowned player in the volleyball fraternity who achieved many heights as a national volleyball cap. Minister Dayasiri also went on to express that they were delighted at the quality of track and field athletes emerging from the region and added that the games will empower the budding talent from the North and East to compete at the national level, thereby exposing them to the eyes of the authorities who would be able to nurture them to be winners for the country.
This year, the action will unfold over 04 days with the opening ceremony held on the 29th of September with the participation of Speaker of the Parliament Mr. Karu Jayasuriya gracing the occasion as the chief guest. 02nd of October, the final day of the festival, will see the presentation ceremony graced by the President Hon. Maithripala Sirisena recognizing the winners of the tournament.
