Barely within few hours after being appointed as the new chairman of the National Sports Council by Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, Former Sri Lanka Cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene today morning departed for the UAE to participate in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), Cricket Age reliably learns.
Jayawardene, along with another former captain Kumar Sangakkara, who is currently the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in England, was yesterday appointed to the 14 – member National Sports Council.
Jayawardana will be coaching the defending champions Mumbai Indians for the 4th consecutive season this year. IPL will begin on September 19th and the final will be played on November 8th.
Both Sangakkara and Jayawardene, along with other members, will be playing pivotal roles in advising Namal in making policies for all 66 Sport, especially cricket. Among the functions of the new National Sports Council is to advise the Minister on the development of the sport, policies and the standard of the sport and how to uplift the associated infrastructure. Among the responsibilities of the National Sports Council is to guide special programs for the preparation of the preliminary work required to formulate a new Sports Act and a National Sports Policy as per the order of the Minister of Sports; Develop plans for targeted achievements, infrastructure development to upgrade athletes to professional level, recommendations to the Minister in selecting National Pools, development of a school sports development plan in collaboration with the Ministry of School Sports and Education; creating an environment conducive to maintaining the purity and transparency of the sport, planning to build a sports economy through new trends and new sectors such as e-sports.
The National Sports Council members attended it’s inaugural meeting yesterday evening at the invitation of the Namal, before Mahela left for UAE to assume his IPL duties.
“The newly appointed chairman (Mahela) will be in UAE for next three months, where he will brainstorm and make policies for the development of the Sports in Sri Lanka” a close associate of Mumbai Indians coach told Cricket Age.
Apart from Mumbai Indians, Mahela has been associated with Bangladesh Premier League franchise Khulna Titans, Caribbean Premier League Tallawahs and was also recently appointed as the president of Sri Lanka domestic club Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) cricket committee chairman.
“He has many responsibilities on his shoulders and right now his main focus is to help Mumbai Indians in winning another trophy” the close associate added further.
The most successful team in the IPL history, Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians has also decided to stay in Abu Dhabi as decided by KKR. Reliance’s promoters owned Mumbai Indians will be staying at St Regis, Sadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi. This ultra luxurious property belongs to Marriott Group, who is also the sponsor of Mumbai Indians this year. Mumbai Indians team will fly from Mumbai either on 21st or 22nd August for UAE.
