Sports

Vadodara: It’s a cricket World cup after all…

September 29 While it’s raining rewards for Team India after its Twenty20 win, deaf and dumb cricket, famously known as ‘Silent Cricket’, remains shorn of any recognition. The national deaf cricket team won the World Cup 2005 championship, beating the same opposition as Dhoni’s team.

Two years on, however, cash rewards meant for these special players from the state government are yet to come their way.

Raising concerns over the indifference being shown to special cricket, the Deaf Cricket Association Vadodara (DCVA) on Saturday said the state authorities did not honour these cricketers though a rule stipulated them and the Central Government to do so. DCVA is affiliated to All India Cricket Association of the Deaf.

DCVA chairman Pratapsinh Rathod said the players were eligible for cash rewards of Rs 15 lakh. vThe six players and coach Nitendra Singh who coached the India team during World Cup 2005 meet all conditions stipulated under rule numbers 4, 5 and 6 of Gujarat government’s resolution in this regard. They are, therefore, eligible for benefits under the same.”

Rathod said their players should also be treated as sportspersons and not as beneficiaries of any disability scheme. He said they would appeal to state’s Sports, Youth and Cultural Department to take note of their contributions.

Coach Nitendra Singh said, “Twenty20 win was special and we acknowledge it. We don’t have anything against anyone being awarded, but our players, too, are very talented and unique.” He said it was due to the generosity of Gujarat Refinery and a few corporate houses that the special cricket was alive.

Veteran city scribe A. D. Vyas, who has volunteered to train such players for 30 years, said, “Nobody needs to pity us, just help us achieve our goals.”

Source: Twenty20 cash: Now, special cricket wants rewards, The Indian Express, Vadodhara, 30 September 2007.