BRIGHT PROSPECTS: Awang Mahyan (with cowboy hat) and Anto (standing next to Awang, right) posing with officials and participants of the Kuching Under 12 Sixes Cricket tournament yesterday at the Padang Merdeka.
KUCHING: Plans have been laid by the Sarawak Cricket Association (SCA) to seek affiliated organisations from India to further develop the sport in Sarawak.
SCA president Awang Mahyan Awang Mohammed announced this to a press conference at a local hotel here yesterday.
“Everybody knows that India is a world cricket powerhouse and the country’s senior national team are current world champions. We are thrilled to have people who are actively involved in the sport from the country helping us here in Sarawak,” he said.
Representatives of Gaames Unlimited, a sports management firm from India, were present at the press conference.
Gaames Unlimited are well known for managing international cricket athletes such as Ashwin Ravichandran, Ajinkya Rahane,
Umesh Yadav, Parthiv Patel, Manish Pandey, Chris Gayle and Michael Clarke.
The firm’s vice president (International Sports Partnerships) Anto Siovin told reporters the main reason that they chose to help SCA was because they strongly believe that they can promote cricket here to a higher level.
The first step, he believes, is to develop a strong following among the local youths here.
“There is a need for more cricket activities to be organised here in Sarawak. Only with this method then can we attract more local youngsters to be interested in playing the game,” he said.
Following several rounds of discussion in the past few day, Gaames Unlimited and SCA have decided on a long-term cooperation partnership to further develop cricket in Sarawak.
Gaames Unlimited CEO Atul Srivastava is expected to sign an MoU between the firm and SCA very soon.
Meanwhile, Awang Mahyan and Anto went down to the Padang Merdeka to observe the Kuching Under-12 Sixes tournament after the press conference.
Cricket is popular among a number of Commonwealth countries.
Depite being a member of the Commonwealth, Malaysia does not have a strong following in cricket yet.
SCA has embarked on a mission to change that.