Togan: The first of its kind residential academy of PCA for Under – 14 players was inaugurated by M.P. Pandove, Hony. Secretary, Punjab Cricket Association at St. Stephen’s School, Togan. The residential academy will be run  jointly  with St.Stephen’s School, Togan. 

19 players under the age of 14 have been selected after holding extensive trials at various district head quarters by a panel of experts.  The association cast its net far and wide and took trials of around 400 boys from various districts.

After the trials at district head quarters 60 players were short listed by the experts. Thereafter a three day trial was conducted under the watchful eyes of M.P. Pandove, Daljit Singh, Jasbir Singh and D.P. Azad.  The list was finally pruned down to 19 players who after clearing the medical age verification test for the under 14 age group have been admitted to St.Stephen’s School, Togan where they will be continue their study in their respective classes and also stay in the hostel. 

Pandove while inaugurating the academy said that PCA was providing all cricketing facilities including ground equipment and ground maintenance. Pandove further stated that the main aim of starting this under -14 academy was to impart the right training to the boys under this age group i.e. teaching them the right technique basics and the fundamentals.

He said that this was the age at which a player could be moulded by giving him the correct inputs of fundamentals. For this the PCA is using the services of D.P Azad, Dronacharya Awardee and renowned cricket coach as Director Academy, who will be using his vast expertise to hone the basics and fundamentals of the aspiring youngsters alongwith cricket coach Arun Bedi.

The academy boys will be continuing their study in St.Stephen’s School, Togan. The PCA will be looking after their tution fee and hostel expenses. Mr. Pandove said that depending upon the experience gained PCA will formulate plans for having academies for this age group at other centers. The PCA under -14 academy will act as a feeder to the PCA’s reservoir of talent for future.

The following are the boys selected from various major and minor districts like Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Mohali, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Sangrur, Mansa, Mukatsar, Bathinda, Gurdaspur & Nawanshahar.

1.       Jasbir Singh                         Middle Order Batsman                  Jalandhar
2.       Akash Sharma                   Middle Order Batsman                  Fatehgarh Sahib
3.       Akashdeep                         Wicket Keeper                                  Ropar
4.       Shivam Bedi                       Left Arm Spinner                              Amritsar
5.       Gurvinder Singh                               Right Arm Medium Pacer             Sangrur
6.       Abhishek Verma              Left Arm Spinner                              Patiala
7.       Sahil Chander                    Opening Batsman                            Ropar
8.       Kanwar Pathak                  Opening Batsman                            Amritsar
9.       Varinder Singh                  Middle Order batsman                  Mukatsar
10.   Jashanpreet Singh           Middle Order Batsman                  Bathinda
11.   Siddharth Rawat               Middle Order Batsman                  Fatehgarh Sahib
12.   Varun Gupta                      Right Arm Medium Pacer             Gurdaspur
13.   Gaurav Bedi                       Right arm medium pacer              Mohali
14.   Manpreet Singh                               Right arm medium pacer              Mansa
15.   Aman Sharma                    left arm medium pacer                  Nawanshahr
16.   Manan Jain                         Right arm leg spinner                     Ludhiana
17.   Gaurav Puwar                   Off Spinner                                         Patiala
18.   Manmeet Saini                 Right arm leg spinner                     Jalandhar
19.   Karan Rajput                      Wicket Keeper                                  Jalandhar.