AHC, PCB Host Girls' Cricket Cup To Empower Women

The Australian High Commission and the Pakistan Cricket Board Saturday hosted a girls cricket cup with an objective to empower women giving them an opportunity to exhibit their capabilities

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jan, 2019 ) :The Australian High Commission and the Pakistan Cricket board Saturday hosted a girls cricket cup with an objective to empower women giving them an opportunity to exhibit their capabilities.

The 4th AHC-PCB Girls' Cricket Cup was held here at Marghazar Cricket Ground in collaboration with Serena Hotels under its initiative of sports diplomacy.

Girls teams from four schools, including Special education School for Girls with Hearing Impairment H-9; Mashal Model School Bari Imam; Pakistan Sweet Homes H-9/4 and Islamabad Model School for Girls I-9/1 Islamabad took part in the event.

The Mashal Model School Bari Imam won the cup by seven wickets in its final competition against Islamabad Model School for Girls I-9/1. In the allocated 10 overs, Islamabad Model School for Girls I-9/1 scored 86 runs and that target was successfully chased by the competitor team at three-wicket loss.

Sakina stood player of the tournament by scoring 179 runs throughout the event.

The teams were given trophies while Australia's Acting High Commissioner to Pakistan, Brek Batley presented an autographed bat of Australian Cricket Team to the best player of the tournament.

The girls attended a five-day coaching clinic in the lead-up to the competition conducted by first class women cricketers and PCB coach Farrukh Hayat. Speaking on the occasion, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, who was chief guest at the event, appreciated the players for showing a great game. He stressed the need for holding such events across the country to bring about new blood in the sports.

Earlier, talking to media, he said the country lacked a structure that could train the youngsters in sports starting from the school level. He said the international women team was doing good but new players were not being injected into it.

To a question, he said the sports federations could not merely be run through government funding rather they were sponsored by big companies and advertisements.

Brek Batley congratulated the schools on their participation and welcomed the continued support of the PCB and Serena Hotels for the annual event. "Sharing a passion with Pakistan for cricket, the Australian High Commission was pleased to again join with the PCB and Serena Hotels to host this initiative to empower girls through cricket and promote gender equality through sport," Batley said. "We were particularly pleased to have the participation of women first class players who helped to build confidence, foster team spirit and encourage the girls to push beyond their boundaries," he said. He viewed that the women were competing in all sports as in last Olympics, 45 percent athletes were women and in Commonwealth games, women player clinched medals equaling men.

Referring to the remarkable contribution of renowned women in Pakistan, the acting high commissioner hoped that that the girls would keep striving to achieve their dreams.

CEO Serena Hotels Aziz Boolani said cricket was a passion in Pakistan and as a sport it embodied all the best attributes of any game encouraging teamwork, discipline, hard work and strategic thinking.

Under Serena Hotels Sports Diplomacy initiatives, they supported, facilitated and sponsored numerous sporting events and their commitments to sports diplomacy and women's empowerment had found expression in the very cup.

This year's competition was also supported by Malik Sports, the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad and the Islamabad Region Cricket Association which provided cricket equipment, shoes and the ground facilities respectively.

Later, the guests exchanged mementos after giving away trophies to all the participating teams and players of the matches.