KC-IDP inaugurate juniors tourney in style – Maahas gain comfortable win against Knights

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 19: The rejuvenated and revamped Juniors and Schools Under-19 Cricket Tournament was inaugurated in spectacular style this Saturday December 10th by Kuwait Cricket, in partnership with IDP (official IELTS Test Centre) and MGA in association with indiansinkuwait.com.

Sandwiched between two league games on Saturday morning and blessed by the presence of the newly appointed chairman of the Kuwait Cricket Executive council, Mahmood Bastaki; the inauguration and opening ceremony was conducted by Kuwait Crickets Director of Domestic & Marketing, Sajid Ashraf, in the presence of KC patron and sponsors, Mahmoud Abdullah of MGA and Hafiz of Al Hafiz Printing & Design Centre.

The official controlling body of cricket in Kuwait, took to the fantastic Doha Entertainment City turf ground with four teams playing on the day and coaches from many teams present for the inauguration. The morning saw the return of a buzzing atmosphere around juniors cricket that has not been witnessed for many years and the festivities were contagious with the cold and windy morning doing nothing to dampen the spirits of all involved. There was a refreshing spark around the ground as the day kicked off with Salmiya Strikers securing an exciting finish in the opening game against Young Stallions. The second game saw the clash of Maahas CC Vs Prosports Dark Knights, where Maahas showed great skill and discipline to gain a comfortable win by 8 wickets.

Harshith Vora, the newly appointed director of Junior Cricket and architect of the revamped tournament, has been brought in to reinvigorate the Juniors and Grass Roots setup and has been working backstage to bring the countries academies and youth teams to participate and expand the tournaments reach. The Early signs are encouraging; with this first edition kicking off with 10 teams, a number that has not been seen in this competition for several years, and a general excitement that bodes well for the future of Kuwait Cricket.

With a huge amount of preparation going on behind the scenes to bring in live scoring, player profiles, statistics, scorecards and team standings now available on the KC website (www.kuwait-cricket.com); and with the finals expected to boast a guest DJ, food, music, fun festivities and a special guest appearance from a cricket celebrity; Grass Roots cricket in Kuwait looks set for a much needed boost.

Mahmoud Bastaki addressing the clubs during the inauguration said: “The u-19 club format cricket will give a real boost to the cricket of youngsters. Our aim is to build a tournament that will help the next generation benefitted from the facilities we have these days. He also emphasized on the fitness and discipline which is must in making of a cricketer”.

Mahmoud Abdullah in his speech emphasized that “it is indeed a joy watching young clubs participating and showcasing their skills utilizing the best of facilities provided by Kuwait Cricket.  Friendship through cricket is the clear message for the youngsters”.

Harshith Vora ensured full support to all the participating clubs as the Director of Juniors cricket and coming from the grass roots himself under Kuwait Cricket U-15 levels, Vora emphasized on the need of reviving juniors cricket like never before in order to assist Kuwait in performing better in international junior tournaments.

Sajid Ashraf, Director Domestic and Marketing concluded the inauguration ceremony with an expectation of full focus on discipline from the juniors and thanked all council members and sponsors for their presence including the Manager of logistics Robert Dsouza, match officials, tournament coordinator Ghayoor Ahmed for their hard work and sincere efforts. Stay tuned on www.kuwait-cricket.com for all the live updates and action.

This news has been read 4996 times!