On the Scene - Hambantota 2018 Pledges to Reconstruct, Reconcile, Rehabilitate

(ATR) Bid chair Ajith Nivard Cabraal tells Around the Rings he hopes Hambantota can write "a new chapter in world sport" by hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Whether the Sri Lankan city gets to deliver on those words will be decided Friday in St. Kitts at the close of the Commonwealth Games Federation's annual general assembly.

Gold Coast, Australia is the other bidder.

Down to the Wire

Shrugging off suggestions that many delegates seem to have already made up their minds well ahead of the vote, Cabraal insists the race will go down to the wire regardless.

"Whatever happens, it's actually on the last day that you either win or don't," he tells ATR.

"Whether they have made up their minds to vote for us or Gold Coast, we still know that will be done on the last day."

In the meantime, he's hunkered down in a hotel suite having tea with voter after voter in hopes of lobbying those from all 71 CGF member nations.

The conversation hits upon not only Hambantota's strengths but also the weaknesses he knows are weighing on their minds, just as Friday's final presentation will do.

"There will be the concerns that have been raised at different times," says Cabraal, also governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and a senior figure within the country's government.

"We will attempt to respond to those and to allay any fears that people may have had. Sometimes there are doubts that are in the minds of people which we need to anticipate and deal with, so we will be doing that as well."

Reconstruct, Reconcile, Rehabilitate

Cabraal and company are highlighting the Commonwealth Games as an event that will drive sustainable development in a small city like Hambantota.

Sri Lanka was second only to Indonesia in lives lost from the Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami in 2004.

The country is also less than three years removed from a civil war that killed as many as 100,000 people throughout its 26-year course. The on-again off-again conflict caused one side – the Tamil Tigers – to be labelled a terrorist organization by 32 countries and the other – the Sri Lankan military – to be accused of human rights abuses.

According to Cabraal, the Games would afford his people a fantastic opportunity to leave behind some of the burdens stemming from these twin sources of strife.

"I think that can be a great strength because many countries that have undergone pain and undergone conflict have had a fantastic revival through sports thereafter," he says, referencing former South African president Nelson Mandela's philosophy on sport as a tool for social change.

"Sport unifies. Sport creates the platform on which young people as well as those who are not young who are supporting sports can get together."

Just as Australia is touting Gold Coast as a blueprint for other regional cities to host a cost-effective Commonwealth Games, so too is Sri Lanka presenting Hambantota 2018 as an example of post-conflict competition serving the role of catalyst for large-scale recovery efforts.

"If given the opportunity, the Games would be a fantastic platform for Sri Lanka and a fantastic case study thereafter as well," says Cabraal.

"People will for many years later probably cite Sri Lanka as a model which emerging out of a difficult situation used sports to unify, used sports to reconstruct, used sports to reconcile, used sports to rehabilitate."

Lessons Learned

Hambantota staged a third of Sri Lanka's share of the Cricket World Cup this year and will again play host to the sport during next year's ICC Twenty20.

"Thefact that we were getting into a new area and being able to deliver on time and on budget and to thereafter ensure that the cricket is a huge success definitely is a plus for us," says Cabraal.

"At the same time, it also tells us that there will be new challenges for us to face, that we will need to focus on those carefully."

Coupled with last month's inaugural South Asian Beach Games as well as the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting just awarded to Hambantota, the city appears to be on quite a roll within the event-hosting scene.

Bid CEO Nalin Attygalle tells ATR the 2016 South Asian Games also bound for Hambantota will be the real difference-maker.

The proposed ceremonies site for 2018 already exists thanks to the Cricket World Cup, and the city must have the rest of the venues ready by 2016 regardless, according to Attygalle.

The so-called Hambantota Sports Park will then be built even if the 2018 Games go to Gold Coast, he confirms to ATR.

Distancing from Delhi

Asked how Hambantota 2018 is encouraging the same tide of frontierism that keeps sending the Olympics and FIFA World Cup to new territories while also distancing Sri Lanka from the troubles associated with last year's Delhi Commonwealth Games in nearby India, Cabraal says simply that every bid is different.

"I believe we've got to look at every case on its own merits," he says.

"At the same time, we are also conscious that there are lessons which we can learn from every Games and that's another area that we have to concentrate on."

Cabraal suggests that if sports bodies wanted ready-made Games with no risk and noconstruction required, they would simply elect host cities just a yearbeforehand.

"The world has shown a trend where we now recognize that we've got to ensure that you look at the ability to deliver more than what has already been delivered. That is why countries are selected or cities are selected seven years ahead of time," he explains.

"That's not the way it's done.

"That's because all these international organizations and sports federations are very conscious of the legacy of these Games. The legacy comes from the long-term approach, and that's what we are really working on.

"I believe the world is now gradually moving toward that understanding, and that's a good thing for countries like Sri Lanka and cities like Hambantota. That now gives us an opportunity to show off our potential and based on the potential, to win bids and then to benefit by the massive legacy that the Games provide."

Like Kuala Lumpur

Cabraal envisions a Commonwealth Games out of which the legacy is split equally between economic development and sport performance.

To this end, he references Kuala Lumpur 1998 as an example for what he hopes Hambantota 2018 will get the chance to become.

"Before 1998, Malaysia just won about four medals every Games," he tells ATR, "but after 1998, Malaysia continued to win 35+ medals in every Games."

Sri Lanka is also taking its infrastructural inspiration from Malaysia, according to Cabraal.

"They had a massive platform for economic development. That's what we also will enjoy in Sri Lanka, but we will have the additional advantage of having the opportunity of reconciling, reconstructing and rebuilding," he says.

"We think our story has become more and more resonant in the minds of people and in the ears of people. We will be hopefully writing a new chapter in world sport by offering our unique city, and we are confident that the Commonwealth Games Associations will think along those same lines."

Written and reported in St. Kitts by Matthew Grayson.

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