COLOMBO, 3 October — The Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club celebrated the return of the highest level of cricket to their Saravanamuttu Stadium by throwing a big party for the participating teams, the officials and the media. Club President Tryphon Mirando said: “We have two of the greatest contemporary teams here. We are proud to host the Pakistan-Australia Test and are grateful to the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka to have given us this opportunity. We hope both teams will enjoy playing here and will take back happy memories.” There was music and plenty of food as the two teams mingled with fans and signed autographs. Much sought after by photographers was the Younis family – Waqar, his wife and son – as they posed patiently and the cameramen clicked away.
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Spate of world meets in Colombo
THERE has been a spate of major international events taking place in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. Last month’s ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament was a big hit and ICC President Malcolm Gray called it the “biggest and most successful” event of the series so far. Currently on are the Miss Tourism International 2002 pageant and the International Conference on Children Affected by Armed Conflict. The return of peace to the island nation as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ceased armed conflict and have already held one round of talks with government officials, augurs well for the country. It is slowly regaining its place as a major tourist attraction. Incidentally the beauty pageant participants are all staying at my hotel – Trans Asia Hotel. Since they wear their country’s name sash all the time, one can identify which country they are representing.
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Lloyd match referee
FORMER West Indies captain Clive Lloyd is the ICC match referee for the Pakistan-Australia Test match starting here at the Saravanamuttu Stadium today. Lloyd has been here now for almost a month. He was one of the five match referees for the ICC Champions Trophy. Yesterday afternoon he held a meeting with the two captains and discussed with them the playing conditions and other aspects of the match. India’s Srinivas Venkatararaghavan and West Indian Steve Bucknor are the two umpires. They umpired matches during the ICC Champions Trophy as well. The whole team will move on to Sharjah where the remaining two matches of the three-Test series will be played.
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Hindi movies popular
BOLLYWOOD blockbusters seem to be popular with Colombo moviegoers and judging by the films being shown, Shahrukh Khan appears to be their most favorite Indian actor. His ‘Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam’ with Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan opened today in two theaters – Asoka and Arena. ‘Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai’ is already running at Regal. There are quite a few English films also being shown. ‘Traffic’ of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeeta Jones is at Liberty while Spider-Man and Jackie Chan’s ‘Rush Hour’ are also running in cinemas. Talking about things Indian, there is a very popular Indian restaurant ‘Amaravathi’ which serves popular south Indian dishes like idli, dosa and specializes in Andhra Pradesh cuisine.
