The Delhi leg of the Coca-Cola Under-16 Cricket Cup tournament will begin on Friday, according to company official Wasim Basir, who made the announcement along with Delhi and Districts Cricket Association secretary Sunil Dev on behalf of the City Cricket Council, former international Syed Saba Karim, and Procam International director operations P.N. Sankaran.
The tournament is open to cricketers in the age group of 12 to 16 years.
In 2012, 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 Delhi leg of the event will see participation from top Under-16 teams. The month-long tournament will be played on a knockout format, followed by the quarter-final league. The winners and runners up will be awarded prizes `50,000 and `35,000, respectively.
Ramjas School No. 2, Anand Parbat, will face G.D. Salwan School, Rajinder Nagar, on the opening day at the G.D. Salwan School grounds. In another match on Friday, Bal Bhawan School, Dwarka will meet ITL School, Dwarka, in Dwarka.
Said Basir, “The tournament 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.
“Some of the best sportsmen have come from the most unassuming of places, and it is our endeavour to give this talent a platform with robust grassroots initiatives like the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup.”