BCCI’s support means a lot for development of blind cricket, says CABI chief

BCCI’s support means a lot for development of blind cricket, says CABI chief

10

Written by: SportsCafe Desk

no photo

|

SportsCafe

Cricket Association for Blind in India president Mahantesh GK has expressed his gratitude to the BCCI for deciding to support them after the team won the World Cup for the blind. He also cleared that while they want to go under BCCI's umbrella, they also want to maintain their separate identity.

From a long period, the Indian blind cricket players had requested the BCCI, the richest cricket board in the world, to support them financially. Recently, Mahantesh GK addressed a press conference at the BCCI’s headquarters where he hinted that the board seemed to extend their helping hands towards them after showing their proposal to board’s CEO Rahul Johri. Earlier, in this week, Sachin Tendulkar also wrote a letter to the Indian cricket board to look after the CABI’s players.

"We are waiting for some of the major announcements (from the BCCI). One of (our) requests is recognition and support to our blind cricketers who have played in the past. The support from the BCCI means a lot for us to take this game forward," he said as quoted by TOI.

"We discussed security to the (visually-challenged) players who have played in the past, some of them could not get jobs and the players are great fans of (Indian) cricketers and we requested Rahul sahab to organize a meet and greet session, apart from asking for financial support for CABI."

The CABI chief disclosed that he had a meeting with the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) head Vinod Rai in New Delhi before going to UAE where the Indian blind cricket team defeated Pakistan under Ajay Kumar Reddy’s leadership and lifted the 50-overs World Cup trophy.

"In the last few days, there have been positive discussions happening between CABI and the BCCI. COA head Vinod Rai personally congratulated us and said that the BCCI is planning to do something for blind cricket," Mahantesh said.

The blind cricket board’s president made it clear that they wanted to work under the BCCI’s guidance but they didn’t want to merge totally like the Women’s Cricket Association of India did a few years ago. 

"We would like to retain CABI, because we have the World Blind Cricket Limited, which governs blind cricket globally. I'm its president. We met (ICC CEO) David Richardson and I asked him to affiliate World Blind Cricket with the ICC (International Cricket Council). He's keen (to do that) and said they are working out a new strategy," he said.

"To be a part of World Blind Cricket, it is important for India to have Cricket Association for the Blind in India. We don't mind being a part of the BCCI, but at the same time, we must have our separate identity and entity."

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all