Cricketers take LTTE attack in their stride

Christine Jayasinghe

It was practice as usual for the Indian cricket team, a day after Tamil Tiger rebels launched a major offensive on the island's international airport and main air base.

Thousands of overseas travelers were stranded in Colombo after Tuesday's pre-dawn attack, in which Tiger suicide bombers exploded themselves and fired mortar shells at parked aircraft.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka rushed on Tuesday to reassure the touring Indian and New Zealand teams, summoning officials for an emergency meeting and promising extra security.

Sri Lanka played New Zealand on Wednesday in the ongoing triangular Coca-Cola series while the Indians practiced at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club and the Nondescripts Cricket Club.

"Everyone is quote cool about what happened," a BCCSL official told Indo-Asian News Service. "We are quite sure the police will make additional arrangements for the teams' security."

He said officers from the special Ministerial Security Division, detailed to protect the visitors, would now be conducting additional surprise checks at the deluxe Taj Samudra Hotel, where they are staying and at match venues.

BCCSL chairman Vijay Malasekera said in a statement that security officials had assured him, match referee Cammie Smith and team managers that "precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of players and officials."

Some 300 policemen were tagging behind the cricketers, roaming the hotel's corridors and lawns and keeping a watchful eye on crowds at Colombo's R Premadasa stadium, where the series is being played.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, threatened by Kashmiri separatists with kidnap, already has special round-the-clock protection.

On Sunday, police quickly hustled two pro-democracy protestors holding placards who rushed on to the pitch. They were later charged with, among other things, alarming the Indian cricketers and making them lose to Sri Lanka.

The BCCSL spokesman said the Indian team would stay on as scheduled after the one-day series ends on August 5. They will play three-Test matches against the home side.

The New Zealand team was in Colombo in 1987 when Tamil rebels exploded a car bomb in the heart of Colombo and again in 1992, when a suicide bomber killed the navy chief right outside the hotel the players were in. Both attacks abbreviated their tours.

The eight-nation Asian Netball Championship being played here will also continue as scheduled, the organizers said.

Indo-Asian News Service