Sports Events in Grenada

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In March-April this year (2007) the World Cup in cricket will be held in the Caribbean area, and among the venues is Saint George, Grenada.

The tournament will be played at a totally new, huge, stadium. Totally paid by China (no, there isn't much I understand here right now...), and built by chinese workers.

At the opening ceremony in January 2007 there was quite some scandal, when the orchester would play the national anthem of China, but instead, in front of the chinese ambassador and the 500 chinese workers, played the national anthem of Taiwan...

Not very good, no...

The stadium looks really nice, and you can see it from far out on the ocean. Was thinking of trying to get my boss to send me back to Grenada to cover the event in April, but then realised I know more about women's minds than I do about cricket.

And I don't understand anything about women... ;)

The old cricket stadium in Saint George was destroyed by a hurricane in 2003, and then the rest blow away in the next hurricane (Ivan) in 2004. The World Cup tournament was in big danger to be cancelled, but then China decided to give something back as a thanks for Grenada's support of the People's republic of China (instead of Taiwan), so they donated 35 millions euro, and 500 chinese workers, to build up a new stadium.

Hm... one might ask if China doesn't have better holes to fill 35 000 000 euros with, instead of building a new cricket stadium - in Grenada!?

We need a bigger football stadium in Gothenburg for example...? ;)

The tournament will be played between 16 nations, including Kenya (!?), Netherlands and Bangladesh. And of course big cricket countries like Australia, England, India and Pakistan.

If you're interested in going there you should start your preparations very early, as the visa rules for Grenada changes very harshly during the tournament's time. You can not just go there and think you will gain entrance to the island, for some reason.

Equipment: A ticket, a visa, and a lot of patience, as a game can take a whole week to finish...

I've seen 0-0 in football and fallen asleep, and they are only played during 90 minutes...

Tickets are from 10 US dollar up to 600 US dollar. There are different prices and packages though, so take a good look at the http://cricketworldcup.indya.com/event/tickets.htm to find out more.