ALKHOBAR, 24 March 2003 — The war in Iraq could not dampen the enthusiasm of hundreds of cricket lovers in the Eastern Province as they thronged the Arab News-Le Gulf Meridien Cricket Pavilion to watch the ICC World Cup Cricket finals between India and Australia here yesterday.
The chief guest at the pavilion, Khalid Shisha, deputy general manager of Saudi Arabian Airlines Catering in Dammam, said the match showed that people wanted peace around the world.
A majority of the audience was Indians as India lost the match to Australia. But the audience said they enjoyed the match immensely due to an absolute cricketing environment in the pavilion. There were nearly 400 people of several nationalities.
The General Manager of Le-Gulf Meridien, Micheal Nugent, reassured cricket fans that his hotel will continue to take active part in all such events.
Marketing Manager of Bitumat Abdullah Rizvi also assured his company’s total support to sporting and cultural events organized by all nationals. “Such events provide an excellent chance to interact with other people,” he said. Reda Al-Haj, sales manager of JVC, congratulated Arab News and Meridien Hotel and said he never witnessed such craze for cricket before.
Humayun Muzaffar, director of Asia International School, said that sports cut across all national and regional barriers. “Today we watched a wonderful game of cricket.” The event was sponsored and supported by Saudi Arabian Airlines Catering, Bitumat, JVC and Asia International School. Many prizes were awarded to the winners of the lucky draw.
