Dalai Lama to watch Saturday’s IPL match
May 19th, 2011 - 1:02 am ICT by IANSDharamsala, May 18 (IANS) Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has agreed to witness Saturday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium here, his aide said.
“His Holiness will witness the IPL match slated for May 21,” Chimme Choekyappa, private secretary to the Dalai Lama, told IANS.
The Dalai Lama had refused to witness the match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore May 17, citing body fatigue following a fortnight-long hectic visit to the US and Japan.
Choekyappa said the Dalai Lama accepted the invitation extended by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal earlier in the day.
“Since the forthcoming match will starts at 4 p.m., His Holiness has decided to be present there for around an hour. Normally, he calls it a day at around 3.30 p.m., but this time he does not want to disappoint the match organisers,” he added.
In the previous IPL edition, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was the centre of attraction during the day-and-night match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings here.
Meanwhile, the players of Kings XI Punjab Wednesday had an audience with the Dalai Lama at his official palace in McLeodganj, 9 km from the town.
In an informal interaction with them, the spiritual leader said he has no knowledge of cricket but he wants to share the joy and the love for the game in India.
“Last time when we were watching the game, I asked CM (chief minister) Dhumal who were winning and who were losing,” he said.
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