Delhi: Delhi is all set to witness some exciting cricketing action as Coca-Cola India, the country’s leading beverage company, today rolled out the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup Under-16 school cricket tournament in partnership with Procam International. Cricket has enjoyed a prominent position in the sporting history of Delhi, which has produced a number of skilled cricketers, who have gone on to achieve great laurels at the National level. To continue unearthing great cricketing talent from the state, the Delhi leg of the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup Tournament will commence from the second week of October. The initiative was announced by Wasim Basir, Director – Integrated marketing Communications, Coca-Cola India along with Sunil Dev, Hony, Secretary DDCA on behalf of City Cricket Council, Delhi, Saba Karim, Former International & Chief Mentor & P N Sankaran, Director Operations, Procam International at a press event organized at NSCI.
Speaking about the initiative, Wasim Basir, Director – Integrated marketing Communications, Coca-Cola India said, “It gives us all at Coca-Cola, immense pleasure and a great sense of satisfaction to announce the launch Season 2 of the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup tournament in Delhi. It will give the state’s talented young players an opportunity to showcase their talent, get identified at the grassroots level and groomed to go on to play bigger league games in the future. The Coca-Cola System in India has always believed in promoting healthy, active lifestyle through sports. We believe that India has great sporting talent. Some of the best sportsmen have come from the most unassuming of places, and it is our endeavor to give this talent a platform with robust grassroots initiatives like the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup. We are excited about the launch of Season 2 of this tournament in Delhi and look forward to engaging even more talented young cricketers from the state through this program this year”.
The Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup is an Inter-school grass root level cricket initiative to discover budding cricketing talent in the country. The program is open to all young cricketers in the age group of 12-16 years. This year the tournament will be played across 10 states in close to 70 districts involving more than 11,000 young players from more than 780 schools across the country. The winner of the Delhi leg will represent Delhi at the Inter State Challenge.
Speaking about the initiative, P.N Sankaran, Director Operations, Procam International, said “We are delighted to have Coca-Cola India as our partners for the 2nd season of the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup. Coca-Cola’s support for sporting events is well documented, this partnership will enable us to encourage young cricketing talent in the country and serve as an ideal platform to promote grassroots cricket, identify promising talent and groom the country’s next generation of International cricketers. With India’s vast population and geographical spread, it is not easy for talented players to find the right platform and emerge into the spotlight. The Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup aspires to be that platform for every deserving cricketer so that great talent never goes unrecognized”.
The Delhi leg of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup will involve participation from leading under-16 cricket teams with matches being played at various grounds across the city. The tournament will commence from the second week of October and will run for around 3 to 4 weeks. Matches until the quarter finals will be played on a knock out format, the 8 quarter finalists will then play a league.
The teams and players performing will stand a chance to win prizes at each stage post the quarter-final round. The winners & runners up of the Delhi leg will be awarded prizes worth INR 50,000 and INR 35,000 respectively.
By Indian Sports News Network
