C4 documentary has no bearing on Hambantota 2018 Commonwealth bid - Mahindananda
June 27, 2011 01:26 pm
Sri Lankan Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, the co-chairman of the Hambantota 2018 bid for the Commonwealth Games, has dismissed the Channel 4 documentary as “completely false” adding that it has no bearing on the Hambantota 2018 bid for the Commonwealth Games.
The timing of the documentary is highly unwelcome in Sri Lanka as the Hambantota 2018 Commonwealth Games bid is currently entering its most crucial phase with their vital four-day inspection from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Evaluation Commission beginning today but Aluthgamage has dismissed the videos as fabricated.
“The Channel 4 documentary is a completely false documentary,” Aluthgamage told insidethegames.
“The footage shown in it has been fabricated and we will not be affected by lies.
“It was simply false and it has no bearing on the Hambantota 2018 bid for the Commonwealth Games at all.”
Aluthgamage’s comments to insidethegames come after British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Alistair Burt claimed he was “shocked by the horrific scenes” in the documentary, which he said contained “convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
The five-person Commission, chaired by Scotland’s Louise Martin, have just completed their four-day inspection of Hambantota’s only rivals for the 2018 Commonwealth Games the Gold Coast in Australia and are now in Sri Lanka undertaking official proceedings in the Asian country.
They will be based in Colombo for the majority of the visit due to the lack of facilities currently in place in Hambantota but will spend a day in the bid city to look at where the venues for a potential 2018 Commonwealth Games will be built.
Following the visit to Sri Lanka, the Commission will release a report for voting delegates on the two bid cities in September shortly before the vote for the Games at the Federation’s General Assembly in St Kitts and Nevis on November 11, insidethegames reports.
The timing of the documentary is highly unwelcome in Sri Lanka as the Hambantota 2018 Commonwealth Games bid is currently entering its most crucial phase with their vital four-day inspection from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Evaluation Commission beginning today but Aluthgamage has dismissed the videos as fabricated.
“The Channel 4 documentary is a completely false documentary,” Aluthgamage told insidethegames.
“The footage shown in it has been fabricated and we will not be affected by lies.
“It was simply false and it has no bearing on the Hambantota 2018 bid for the Commonwealth Games at all.”
Aluthgamage’s comments to insidethegames come after British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Alistair Burt claimed he was “shocked by the horrific scenes” in the documentary, which he said contained “convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
The five-person Commission, chaired by Scotland’s Louise Martin, have just completed their four-day inspection of Hambantota’s only rivals for the 2018 Commonwealth Games the Gold Coast in Australia and are now in Sri Lanka undertaking official proceedings in the Asian country.
They will be based in Colombo for the majority of the visit due to the lack of facilities currently in place in Hambantota but will spend a day in the bid city to look at where the venues for a potential 2018 Commonwealth Games will be built.
Following the visit to Sri Lanka, the Commission will release a report for voting delegates on the two bid cities in September shortly before the vote for the Games at the Federation’s General Assembly in St Kitts and Nevis on November 11, insidethegames reports.
