The 45th annual National Sports Festival will be held at the Vincent Dias stadium in Badulla from October 24 to 27.Medal winning athletes from the Uva Province Harjan Ratnayake and Shanika Rajapakse will light the Olympic Torch to mark the opening followed by a cultural pageant. At the completion of many other sports events Western Province leads the medals tally with a 178 medals (72 gold medals, 54 silver medals and 52 bronze medals) for men and women categories. They are followed by Central Province 76 medals (22 gold, 21 silver and 33 bronze). It is expected that Western Province will continue to dominate and emerge overall champions at the National Sports Festival.