CATEGORY:SPORTS
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By Trevor Thwaites (Inside Grenada correspondent)



ST.GEORGE, Grenada - The Grenada Government is elated with recent comments by the International Cricket Committee (ICC) that the National Stadium at the Queens Park will be a model for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. Venue Development officer for the World Cup Donald Lockerbie said recently that the National Stadium being constructed with assistance from the government of the People’s Republic of China is probably the best being prepared for the 2007 event.

The comments have indeed delighted Prime Minister Mitchell. “That to me is not a statement to be taken lightly. It was not coming from any partisan corner – the government or China. It was coming from persons who had serious doubts about the country’s ability to host matches in the world cup”, Dr Mitchell told reporters in St George’s. Prime Minister Mitchell is elated because he said that many at home and abroad were confident that that the country would have been unable to hosts matches.

He said that it was the opinion of many that the country should have concentrated only on rebuilding the homes destroyed by Hurricane Ivan and was indeed making a fool of itself. But a smiling and upbeat Prime Minister Mitchell said that Grenada would be one of the leading venues for the World Cup. “Today, Grenada is portrayed as being ahead of almost all of the stadiums in the region”, he jubilantly proclaimed.

Dr Mitchell is high in praise of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese workers who have toiled diligently to construct what he has described as “a gem of a stadium”. “I am particularly proud of the relationship with China and what we have achieved thus far. It is like a child that’s just being born, but growing fast and making tremendous progress in every respect”, is how Dr Mitchell describes the existing ties between the two countries.

He is confident that the relationship will grow from strength to strength in the coming years. Final touches are being put on the National Stadium for the upcoming World Cup. The facility will be officially handed over by the Chinese to the Government towards the end of December. Grenada is getting ready to host six matches in the Super Eight Stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup from April 10- 20. The new stadium will accommodate 15,300 fans, 3,500 more than the one that was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan.