GANDAKI PROVINCE NATIONAL SCHOOL CRICKET CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS IN POKHARA

Kaski. With the aim of finding new generation talents in Nepali cricket, the Gandaki Province National School Cricket Championship is starting from Friday at the Pokhara Stadium cricket ground. The competition, organized by the Gandaki Provincial Cricket Association, aims to strengthen the foundation of cricket from the school level, bring hidden talents from rural and district levels to the national stage, and produce future national players, the organizers informed. According to Sanjaykant Sigdel, President of the Gandaki Provincial Cricket Association, the competition will see top school teams from Kaski, Nawalpur, Syangja, and Parbat districts of Gandaki Province compete for the title. He stated that only the winning school teams from the district-level selection competitions are eligible to participate in the provincial-level competition. Diamond Secondary School from Kaski, Bhimsen Adarsha Secondary School from Nawalpur, Bhagawati Secondary School from Syangja, and Mangalodaya Secondary School from Parbat are participating in the competition. This year, as a special opportunity, four additional outstanding players selected from the respective districts will be included in the team along with the participating school teams. This arrangement is expected to give an opportunity to players who were not selected for the school team but performed excellently to showcase their talent in the provincial-level competition, informed President Sigdel. The league stage matches of the competition will be held on Jestha 22, 23, and 24, while the final match for the title will be held on Jestha 25. The first match will start at 9:00 AM and the second match at 1:00 PM on Friday, the organizers informed. The winning team of the competition will represent Gandaki Province in the National School Cricket Championship to be held in Kathmandu from the first week of Ashad. Additionally, the four outstanding players selected from the competition will also get the opportunity to play in the national competition with the winning school team. Students studying up to grade 10 are eligible to participate in the competition. The organizers informed that players who have passed the SEE examination this year but participated in the district-level competition have also been allowed to play. With the increasing interest of the younger generation in cricket in Nepal recently, it is expected that organizing systematic competitions from the school level will significantly contribute to producing future national players.