Coca-Cola India Announces 3rd Season of Coca-Cola Cricket Cup Under-16 Inter-School Cricket Tournament
· Coca-Cola Cricket Cup takes forward Coca-Cola India’s commitment to promote a sporting culture and healthy active living in the country
· Having begun in the last week of July, 2013, the 9 month tournament will involve participation from over 12,500 young cricketers across 850 plus schools in 70 districts
· Partnership involves coaching clinics, sports medicine and sports nutrition camps, international exposure and training for selected cricketers
· Entire program being mentored by former Test Cricketer Saba Karim
· Cash Prizes worth 10 Lakhs
Mumbai, September 23, 2013: Coca-Cola India, the country’s leading beverage company, reiterated their commitment towards promoting grassroots cricket, while unveiling the highlights of the 3rd season of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup Under-16 Cricket Tournament, the country’s largest Inter-School Cricket Championship, in partnership with Procam International. This school cricket tournament will be played in 70 districts in 10 states, under the aegis of the respective State Cricket Associations.
The 3rd season was announced by Debabrata Mukherjee, Vice President – Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, along with Vivek B Singh, Jt. Managing Director, Procam International, Saba Karim, Chief Mentor & Former International Cricketer, Prof. Ratnakar Shetty and other officials and dignitaries associated with this unique project.
The occasion was also used to introduce to the media the three Coca-Cola Cricket Stars – Shivam Chauhan (Delhi), Vikas Dixit (Delhi) and Pranjul Puri (Indore), the most talented of the players from the second season, who spent a fruitful four weeks training under former Somerset cricketer Thomas ‘Tom’ Webley at the famous Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood, Hertfordshire.
This trip to UK was the first step in the mentoring and development of the three players as part of the commitment on behalf of Coca-Cola India and Procam International.
Charting the course for a bright cricketing future: The three Coca-Cola Cricket Stars have been signed up by Procam International, who will strive to make available to them the best facilities possible, to help them further their cricket careers.
A fund has been kept for these boys which will cover all their expenses arising from purchase of kitting and equipment, besides traveling abroad for training. Procam International will nurture these boys both on and off the field, hence enabling them to make the best use of their talent and opportunities and succeed in the sport of cricket.
The three players were in the UK from June 9 to July 5, 2013, training and playing matches almost every alternate day.
Launching the 3nd season of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup, Mr. Debabrata Mukherjee, Vice President – Coca-Cola India and South West Asia said “It gives me great pleasure to kick start a brand new season of the Coca-Cola U16 Cricket Cup. Sports are an integral part of our lives – an Active Healthy Living is important for a balanced lifestyle and we have always worked at supporting the same amongst the youth. This tournament is our endeavor on the same path. I sincerely hope this would give our young and aspiring players the confidence and boost to pursue their dreams in the sport. We look forward to an exciting season, with some amazing talents. All the best to everyone!”
The Coca-Cola Cricket Cup is an Inter-school grass root level cricket initiative to discover budding cricketing talent in the country. The program is open to all young cricketers in the age group of 12-16 years. The tournament will be played across 10 states in over 70 districts involving more than 12,500 young players from more than 850 schools.
Winners of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup will be awarded a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh, while the runners-up would get Rs. 70,000/-. 24 talented players selected from the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup - Inter-State Challenge will get a chance to attend a week long ‘Coaching Clinic’ under the guidance of Cricket India Academy. Post the week long coaching, the final Coca-Cola India team will be selected and given an opportunity to prove their mettle by participating in a competitive tournament against an invited International U-16 team from other cricket playing nations
Mr. Vivek. B. Singh, Jt. MD, Procam International, said “We are delighted to continue to have Coca-Cola India as our partners for the 3rd season of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup. Coca-Cola’s support for sporting events is well documented and this partnership has enabled us to encourage young cricketing talent in the country. It has served as an ideal platform to promote grassroots cricket, identify promising talent and groom the country’s next generation of International cricketers. With India’s vast population and geographical spread, it is not easy for talented players to find the right platform and emerge into the spotlight. The Coca-cola Cricket Cup aspires to be that platform for every deserving cricketer so that great talent never goes unrecognized”.
Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Saba Karim, former Test cricketer and Chief Mentor of the initiative, said, “At the end of the 9-month program, three best players –‘the Coca-Cola Cricket Stars’ will be groomed for a period of 3 years enabling them to realize their dream of donning International colors. Depending on their core strength, they will also get an opportunity to further hone their skills by attending training camps under the guidance of prominent ex-cricketers. The elaborate structure of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup will ensure that players play some tough cricket and prepare themselves to face bigger challenges.”
Amit Mishra, Indian Player - “Coca-Cola U16 school tournament is a great platform to help recognize young cricketers from across the country. Discovering and training these players from the grass root cricket level helps identify the talent pool in our country. It will be a pleasure to see the talent emerge from this platform and make our country proud with their sporting achievements. With efforts being put in by the corporates such as Coca-Cola & Procam, we hope to see sports being showcased to the children and I hope to see these children shine and perform in the years to come.”
The winning schools at each stage of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup stand to win significant prize money. The total purse for this tournament amounts to INR 10 lakh, besides awards and gifts as gratification. While all the teams reaching the pre-quarter-finals stage of the Intra-State championship will be presented with T-shirts and caps, the members of the teams that make the semi-finals will be presented with cricket kitbags. There will also be man of the match awards for each match from the pre-quarter-final stage onwards.
More About the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup
The Coca-Cola Intra-State Challenge will be played in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (all 13 districts), Punjab (eight districts), Baroda, Tamil Nadu (Chennai + 8 districts), West Bengal (Kolkata + 18 districts), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur & Allahabad), and Madhya Pradesh (4 districts). The format of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup has been structured to begin with the Intra-State Challenge. The centers that have more than one city or district will play their own inter-district before one winner emerges from each center. 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 tremendous job of enhancing the growth of cricket in India. They have done so by adopting a result oriented approach of organising age group tournaments all over the country through their state associations.
This has helped immensely in carving out talented individuals on a regular basis. Most of these cricketers have moved ahead and have brought laurels for their states and the country.
Seeing the vast potential and growing popularity of this game, Coca-Cola India has a vision of facilitating BCCI in their quest to tap talent. We believe that the future of Indian cricket lies in these young talented budding cricketers. We intend to provide a perfect opportunity and platform to all the youngsters across the country to showcase their talent, skill and equally important, pride and loyalty to their school. It gives BCCI and their affiliated state units a brilliant arena to scout for potential match winners.
We hope that this initiative will serve as an ideal platform to identify and nurture young talented cricketers for them to be able to get noticed by the state associations and BCCI to represent the country on an International level.
About Coca-Cola India
Coca-Cola in India refreshes millions of consumers throughout the country with an exciting range of beverages including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca, Sprite, Maaza, Maaza Milky Delite, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh, Minute Maid Mixed Fruit, Minute Maid Apple, Georgia, Georgia Gold, Kinley, Kinley Club Soda, Burn and Nestea through a network of more than one million outlets. The company has invested more than US$ 1 billion in its Indian operations, emerging as one of the country's top international investors. The Coca-Cola system in India employs more than 25,000 people directly. For more information and details on the company’s Indian operations please visit: www.coca-colaindia.com
About Procam International
In 1988, with a vision to provide a more holistic spend to the advertising rupee and a burning desire to ameliorate the prevailing professional standards for sportsmen, Anil and Vivek B. Singh created Procam International.
At a time when sports was considered the private domain of federations, who ran it as their personal fiefdoms, two people dared to dream large dreams and stand up for what they believed in.
Procam International is today a full-fledged sports management company, involved in the promotion of national and international sporting events, sports consultancy and live television programming.
Procam International has based its corporate philosophy on an open culture, with an emphasis on values and integrity. Procam International has promoted and conducted over 45 world events, which have elicited player participation of the highest caliber, as well as huge public interest.
The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon and the TCS World 10K in Bangalore are three of the most prestigious distance running events in the world. This has established Procam International as the leading sports events creator in India. Its professionalism, attention to detail and dedication has won it the faith of its sponsors and partners.
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