Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup tournament​,Inter State Leg, Mumbai !

Ten of India’s top U-16 cricketplaying school teams to fight it out for the coveted Coca-Cola Cricket Cup

Grassroots cricket initiativeundertaken by Coca-Cola India in partnership with Procam International tounearth the country’s best cricketing talent

Afterseven months of intense cricketing action, covering around 700 schools in 65districts across ten states and involving the participation of around 11,000young cricketers, ten of the country’s top cricket playing school teams havenow qualified for the Inter-state round of the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cuptournament. These talented players will pit their skills against each other inthe Inter-State Challenge of one of the country’s largest Inter-School Cricketchampionship, which will be played across various venues in Mumbai beginningApril 24, 2012.

The Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup is an initiativeundertaken by Coca-Cola India as part of its commitment to promote a sportingculture and healthy active living in the country and is being promoted byProcam International, India’s largest sports and leisure management company.

The Inter-State Leg, which is the culmination of theCoca-Cola Cricket Cup will help crown the champion Under-16 cricket playingschool team in the country. Following the tournament, 20 of the best playerswill be shortlisted for an intensive seven-day coaching clinic to be conductedby former international cricketers of high repute. The coaching clinic willserve as catalyst in identifying the final     Coca-ColaXI, who will play a three-match series against the visiting Sri Lanka NationalUnder-16 team. The Champion school of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup will we awardedcash prize worth Rs.1 Lakh, while the runner-up school team will be awarded Rs70,000, in-addition to winning individual awards for excellence.

The commencement of the Inter-State leg wasannounced at the CCI Club in Mumbai by  Wasim Basir, Director – IntegratedMarketing Communications, Coa Cola India in the presence of Saba Karim, FormerInternational Cricketer and Chief Mentor of the tournament, and P N Sankaran,Director Operations, Procam International.

Speakingon the occasion, Wasim Basir of Coca-Cola India said, “It gives us allat Coca-Cola India, immense pleasure and a great sense of satisfaction thatmany talented young players have been identified at the grassroots level andwill now get groomed to go on to play bigger league games in the future. We arecertain that this foundation laid for nurturing cricketing talent in thecountry will go a long way in taking cricket to the next level. On behalf of Coca-Cola India, I would like tocongratulate all the ten teams for an astounding display of talent and wishthem the very best for the future. Coca-Cola India has always believed inpromoting healthy, active lifestyle through sports. We believe that India hasgreat sporting talent. Some of the best sportsmen and women have come from themost unassuming of places, and it is our endeavor to give this talent aplatform with robust grassroots initiatives like the Coca-Cola U-16 CricketCup.”

Mr. PN Sankaran Director Operations, ProcamInternational, said “It’s been an exciting period of competitivecricket that has now reached its climax. So wide has been the net cast by theCoca-Cola Cricket Cup, that the champion school emerging from the Inter-StateLeg can truly wear the mantle of the best under-16 cricket playing school inthe country and the pool of 20 players selected for the coaching clinic will bethe absolute best under-16 cricket playing talent in the country. We aredelighted to have Coca-Cola India as our partners forThe Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup and this partnership has enabledus to encourage young cricketing talent in the country and served as an idealplatform to promote grassroots cricket, identify promising talent andgroom the country’s next generation of International cricketers.”

Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Saba Karim,former Test cricketer and Chief Mentor of the initiative,said, “At the end ofthe program, three best players –‘the Coca-Cola Cricket Stars’will be groomed for a period of three years enabling them to realize theirdream of donning International colors. Depending on their core strength, theywill also get an opportunity to further hone their skills by attending trainingcamps under the guidance of prominent ex-cricketers. The elaborate structure ofthe Coca-Cola Cricket Cup ensured that players played sometough cricket and prepared themselves to face bigger challenges.”

SpringfieldRizvi has emerged the champion school from Mumbai and they will open theircampaign against KDMA, Kanpur, the champion school from UP at the HinduGymkhana on April 24. The other champion schools in the fray are KulachiHansraj (Delhi), BHS Alkapuri (Baroda), Wesley Jr. College (Hyderabad), V PSiddhartha School (AP), KDMA Kamraj Municipal School Erode (TN), DAV Sr. Sec.School Chandigarh (Punjab), La-Martiniere School (West Bengal) and ChristianEminent (MP).

The ten teamswill be divided into two groups of five each and League matches will be playedtill April 28th at the following grounds: Hindu Gymkhana, PoliceGymkhana, HPCL, Chembur, Elf Vengsarkar Academy and the Vengsarkar Academy Ground, Chembur.

The top twoteams of each group will play the semi-finals on April 29, followed by thegrand final on April 30.

Intensive Seven-day Coaching Clinic: Twentyof the best players from the Inter-State Leg of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup willbe picked for a seven-day coaching clinic to be conducted from May 1 to 7. Theclinic will be conducted by Saba Karim, Lalchand Rajput and Sanjay Bhardwaj,while Aijaz Ashai will be the fitness trainer.

Following theseven-day clinic, the Coca-Cola XI will be selected to play a three-matchseries from May 8 to 11 against the visiting Sri Lankan National Under-16 side,who arrive in Mumbai on May 6.

More Aboutthe Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup

The Coca-Cola Intra-State Challenge wasplayed in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (all 13 districts), Punjab(six major districts and 14 minor districts), Baroda, Tamil Nadu (6 districts),West Bengal (18 districts), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Kanpur) and MadhyaPradesh.The format of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup was structured tobegin with the Intra-State Challenge, which was open to all schools in therespective cities and districts. The centers that have more than one city ordistrict played their own inter-district before one winner emerged from eachcenter. The winners from the ten centers will feature in the Inter-State Challenge.

Coca-Cola Cricket Cup’s Vision

BCCI over the past several years has done a tremendousjob of enhancing the growth of cricket in India. They have done so byadopting a result oriented approach of organising age group tournaments allover the country through their state associations.

This has helped immensely in carving out talentedindividuals on a regular basis. Most of these cricketers have moved ahead andhave brought laurels for their states and the country.

Seeing the vast potential and growing popularity ofthis game, Coca-Cola India has a vision of facilitating BCCI in theirquest to tap talent. We believe that the future ofIndian cricket lies in these young talented budding cricketers. Weintend to provide a perfect opportunity and platform to all the youngstersacross the country to showcase their talent, skill and equally important, prideand loyalty to their school. It gives BCCI and their affiliated state units abrilliant arena to scout for potential match winners.

We hope that this initiative will serve as an idealplatform to identify and nurture young talented cricketers for them to be ableto get noticed by the state associations and BCCI to represent the country onan International level.

About Procam International

Procam International is a full-fledged sports andleisure management company, involved in sports consultancy, innovativetelevision programming, celebrity endorsements and brand management.

Procam International has promoted and conducted over45 world events in the last 23 years. These prestigious events have elicitedplayer participation of the highest calibre as well as huge public interest.This has established Procam International as the leading sports events creator inIndia. The professionalism, attention to detail and dedication has won thecompany the faith of its sponsors and resulted in long-term associations.

AboutCoca-Cola India

Coca-Colain India refreshes millions of consumers throughout the country with anexciting range of beverages including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta,Limca, Sprite, Maaza, Maaza Milky Delite, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, Minute MaidNimbu Fresh, Minute Maid Mixed Fruit, Minute Maid Mango, Minute Maid Apple,Minute Maid 100 % juice (Minute Maid Apple, Minute Maid Orange, Minute MaidGrape), Georgia, Georgia Gold, Kinley, Kinley Club Soda, Schweppes and Burnthrough a network of more than one and a half million outlets. The Coca-ColaIndia system has invested more than US$ 2 billion in its Indian operations andprovides direct employment to more than 25,000 people.