“The first,second & the third priority is the Cricket WorldCup” Minister of Sports Navin Dissanyake

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Hon Minister Navin Dissanayake took office today as the newly appointed Minster of Sports and Tourism with Deputy Minister Wasantha Senanayake as his  assistant at the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. A media briefing was held immediately after where the new Minister outlined his stand.

Minster addressing the media stated the fact that working as a team to regain the lost glory of Sri-Lanka will be a key ingredient in the new working model of the two ministries that has been dragged with political interference so far.

He emphasized the fact that he is good at building teams and achieving the due targets through team work and hence he assured the nation that he will group-up and build teams appointing professionals to the necessary fields. 

Expressing on his views on Sports, the Minister’s first words brought applause as he stated that the main target of the Ministry is to focus on the 2015 Cricket World Cup and provide the necessary infrastructure for the national team to achieve it. “The first, second, third priority of the ministry before the general election is the Cricket World cup as it is one of the main goals ahead of the country at present “said the minister. Speaking furthermore he accepted the fact that the rest of the sports and sports bodies have been given less priority with all the resources been channeled to Cricket and Rugby. He assured the fact that from now till he governs the sporting rostrum of the nation he will make sure that all the sports will get an equal share of resources but stated he felt that Football and Athletics will be looked at more emphatically as they bring the most potential.

Bribery and corruption is one of the most spoken topics in almost all the aspects of the nation. Sports is titled to mold a human into a better person but yet bribery and corruption has been a major burden during the past few years. A fact finding committee will be appointed under the direction of the new minister and the committee is supposed to submit a report on all the transactions that took place between the ministry and the outside parties. After consideration of the report, the minister promised that he will take the necessary legal actions and the guilty will be charged. This statement also brought applause from the audience.

Sri Lanka Cricket is the most spoken sport and the administration body of the country as well the as the most controversial due to the decisions made by certain governing individuals. “I have instructed the cricket governing body that each individual should only do the task assigned to him and should not interfere on other people`s tasks, I strongly request them to do so and not to make me move on the to the second stage” said the Minister making it clear that private agendas are not given prominence during his stay as minister. He also stated that there will be no changes at Sri Lanka Cricket as it is a legitimately elected government body.  But the work ethics and role’s assigned to each individual should be adhered to strictly.

Mr. Navin Dissanayake is the son of late Minister Mr. Gamini Dissanayake who was the President of the Cricket Board  instrumental in bringing test status to Sri Lanka. The new Minister stated that the heritage handed down from his father makes it important that he serves Cricket well.

ThePapare.com wishes the Minster of Sports and Tourism Mr. Navin Dissanayake all the strength to bring  glory to Sports in Sri Lanka.