{"id":12317,"date":"2026-07-10T19:43:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/?p=12317"},"modified":"2026-07-10T19:43:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:13:47","slug":"sri-lankas-first-heated-public-swimming-pool-laid-in-bandarawela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/si\/sri-lankas-first-heated-public-swimming-pool-laid-in-bandarawela\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s first heated public swimming pool laid in Bandarawela!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In line with the \u201cA Rich Country \u2013 A Beautiful Life\u201d policy, the foundation stone for Sri Lanka\u2019s first heated public swimming pool was laid today (07) at the Uva Provincial Sports Complex in Bandarawela, opening the doors for talented rural athletes to achieve national and international success. A provision of Rs. 144,191,250.00 has been allocated for this project, which is being implemented under the direct supervision of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at the official inauguration ceremony as the chief guest, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Sunil Kumara Gamage said, &#8220;Instead of making the youth of our country prisoners, this can be introduced as another unique project to transform them into disciplined athletes who are useful to the country.&#8221; The Minister also emphasized that providing modern facilities to the rural athlete who is always marginalized is a primary goal of the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Sugath Thilakaratne, Uva Provincial Governor Kapila Jayasekara, Minister of Plantations and Community Infrastructure Samantha Vidyarathne, Deputy Minister of Tourism Ruwan Ranasinghe and Dinindu Saman Hennayake, along with a large number of MPs, ministers and government officials participated in this special occasion.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In line with the \u201cA Rich Country \u2013 A Beautiful Life\u201d policy, the foundation stone for Sri Lanka\u2019s first heated public swimming pool was laid today (07) at the Uva Provincial Sports Complex in Bandarawela, opening the doors for talented rural athletes to achieve national and international success. A provision of Rs. 144,191,250.00 has been&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,71],"tags":[73,134,1584],"class_list":["post-12317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquatics","category-swimming","tag-slsports","tag-sports-news","tag-uva-provincial-sports-complex"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sri Lanka\u2019s first heated public swimming pool laid in Bandarawela! - SL Sports<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/slsports.lk\/si\/sri-lankas-first-heated-public-swimming-pool-laid-in-bandarawela\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"si_LK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sri Lanka\u2019s first heated public swimming pool laid in Bandarawela! - SL Sports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In line with the \u201cA Rich Country \u2013 A Beautiful Life\u201d policy, the foundation stone for Sri Lanka\u2019s first heated public swimming pool was laid today (07) at the Uva Provincial Sports Complex in Bandarawela, opening the doors for talented rural athletes to achieve national and international success. 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