Sports

Lucknow: 3rd National Cricket Tournament

The 3rd National Cricket Tournament for the differently was organized under the joint auspices of the Indian Cricket Federation for the Disabled (ICFD) and Mobility India from February 21 to 23 at Lucknow.

20 teams participated in the three–day tournament. The matches were organized on league basis. While the inaugural and final match and some league matches were played at KD Singh 'Babu' Stadium. Some matches were also held at Chowk Stadium, Dr Ambedkar Stadium, Gomti Nagar, LDA Stadium (Aliganj) and Colvin Taluqdar's grounds.

The participating teams included Assam, Bihar Khelkood Sangh, Bihar Sports Academy, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Mobility India, Vocational Rehab Centre (Kanpur), Central Railway, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal , Karnataka University and Dr Ambedkar Handicap Technology Institute.

In accordance with the international standards, only players having a physical disability of over 40% took part in the tournament.

The winning team became richer by Rs 30,000 while the runners–up team got Rs 20,000. Besides players who were judged 'Best Batsman', 'Best Bowler', 'Best Fielder' and 'Man–of–the–Series' were given a sum of Rs 4,000 each.

According to secretary, Dr A W Siddiqui, the first edition of the tournament was held in 2006 in which 16 teams had participated while in the second edition of the tourney 18 teams took part…All facilities including the boarding, lodging, fooding, providing rail fare etc were provided by the organizers,

Meanwhile, on this occasion the ICFD appealed to voluntary organizations, associations to come forward and help financially in order to make such events a big success.

The tournament was inaugurated by PWD minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui at 9.30 am on February 21.

Source: National cricket for differently abled, Indian Express, Lucknow, 9 February 2008.