We don’t underestimate Hambantota - claim Gold Coast
May 10, 2011 07:11 am
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has promised that the Gold Coast will not underestimate its only rivals Hambantota in the campaign to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Bligh is due to arrive Kuala Lumpur tomorrow on the eve of the official ceremony where both cities are due to present their bid books to the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The Gold Coast are considered the slight favourites in the contest against the Sri Lankan city, which is rebuilding after being devastated in the 2004 tsunami, but Bligh insisted that they would not be complacent.
“I don’t think for one minute we should ever underestimate our opponents in this bid,” she said.
“Sri Lanka will put in a very, very competitive bid and I think they will have the support of a lot of delegates who are voting delegates as [Sri Lanka] emerge from civil war and try to rebuild their country.”
Bligh will be accompanied to the ceremony by Ron Clarke, the four-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist who is now the May of the Gold Coast.
He plans to use the event to help regenerate the city if they are successful.
“These big international events are catalysts for further development in cities - they change cities,” said Bligh.
“We saw what happened with the Commonwealth Games for Brisbane [in 1982].
“I think the Gold Coast offers one of the best destinations in the world and I hope the federation sees it the same way, Inside The Games reports.
Bligh is due to arrive Kuala Lumpur tomorrow on the eve of the official ceremony where both cities are due to present their bid books to the Commonwealth Games Federation.
The Gold Coast are considered the slight favourites in the contest against the Sri Lankan city, which is rebuilding after being devastated in the 2004 tsunami, but Bligh insisted that they would not be complacent.
“I don’t think for one minute we should ever underestimate our opponents in this bid,” she said.
“Sri Lanka will put in a very, very competitive bid and I think they will have the support of a lot of delegates who are voting delegates as [Sri Lanka] emerge from civil war and try to rebuild their country.”
Bligh will be accompanied to the ceremony by Ron Clarke, the four-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist who is now the May of the Gold Coast.
He plans to use the event to help regenerate the city if they are successful.
“These big international events are catalysts for further development in cities - they change cities,” said Bligh.
“We saw what happened with the Commonwealth Games for Brisbane [in 1982].
“I think the Gold Coast offers one of the best destinations in the world and I hope the federation sees it the same way, Inside The Games reports.
