KARACHI: A total of 280 talented youngsters of age 17 and under are set to participate in the KMC-KCCA Inter-Zonal cricket tournament, which begins on Sunday. This was announced by the Sr. Director for culture, sports and recreation, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Syed Raza Abbas Rizvi and Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) President Prof. Ejaz Ahmed Farooqi in a joint press conference at KMC Sports Complex here on Wednesday. The KMC metropolitan commissioner, Sami Siddiqui, was also present on the occasion and assured KMC’s full co-operation in promoting sports activities across the city for youngsters. The KMC will bear the entire cost of Rs25 lac of the tournament, which is being organised by KCCA. “The KMC and KCCA have joined hands to provide opportunities to these talented youngsters and to groom them,” Abbas said. The tournament will be played under the PCB rules. All the matches will be supervised by qualified umpires and referees. A total of 14 teams will represent seven zones of the KCCA in the event with two teams for each zone to feature in two separate divisions — Division-I and Division-II — respectively. The matches will be played on single league basis with each team to compete in six matches. For each division, the two teams finishing at the top of the table will qualify for the final. The KCCA president Prof. Ejaz praised KMC for their support. “The KMC sponsorship will be an invaluable contribution for the promotion and development of cricket in the city,” he said. The winning team of Division-I will be awarded Rs2.5 lac with runners-up getting Rs1 lac. Man-of-the-match in the final would be given Rs25,000 with best batsman, best bowler, best fielder and player of the tournament to bag Rs10,000 each. The winners of Division-II will get richer by Rs1 lac with runners-up getting Rs50,000. Man-of-the-match in the final will purse Rs10,000 and best bowler, best batsman, best fielder and player of the tournament to get Rs5000 each. Abbas also announced the revival of KMC’s cricket team and said that the trials will soon be conducted to select players from among its employees.
