World Cup T20 ticket sales rise

Colombo: Ticket sales for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka this year are on the rise after just one week of their start. More than 25 percent of tickets in the first phase have been already sold with an average of 10,000 tickets being sold each day.

Upekha Nell, the tournament director, said that she was delighted with the sale process and the interest shown in the tickets. "There has been a great response from the wonderful Sri Lankan public and their enthusiasm is now being mirrored across the world after tickets went on global sale Friday," she said in a statement. "The global sale launch has obviously increased the number of on-line sales which now accounts for 40 percent of all purchases - again with the vast majority of website sales coming from Sri Lanka." Nell revealed that the most popular group game so far was the match between the hosts and 2009 finalist Sri Lanka and South Africa which will be played in Hambantota, September 22. "There is great interest in the Super Eight matches, semi-finals and finals as well but as of today there are still tickets available for all the games," she added. "Spectators should not be disappointed if their ticket preference is not available because any location in the stadium will have a fantastic atmosphere as well as view. This is another chance to be a part of a global cricket event and one that fans should grab this opportunity," she said. The World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 is the first to be held in Asia and will take place between Sept 18 and Oct 7 in Hambantota, Pallekelle and Colombo. A maximum of four tickets can be purchased by each person for the super eights, semifinals and finals, and a maximum of six tickets per person for the rest of the matches. Ticket price start at as little as USD 0.25 for the single group games and the final itself has tickets ranging from only USD 2.50 up to USD 45. IANS