- RIYADH: As part of a major effort to promote friendship and camaraderie, Lufthansa and British Midland International (bmi) have joined hands together to host the "Super 8 Cricket League," a cricket extravaganza exclusively for the travel agencies that opens here on Friday with great fanfare.
- Though, the tradition was started two years ago by bmi, this year the league has a new format and more participants with added enthusiasm visible among them.
"This cricket tournament will be held on Jan 14 and Jan 21 at the cricket ground of the Riyadh Cricket Association (RCA) here," said Stefan Loecherbach, Lufthansa's director for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen, here Thursday. Loecherbach said: "We have received very positive response from the travel industry and great enthusiasm has been shown by the team members." Now with the integration of the two most leading carrier Lufthansa & bmi, this event would be more interesting this year, he added.
He said that the organizers have come up with a new playing format, with eight players in one side compared to last two years with six players on a side. This was due to the interest and support rendered from the travel trade and a request to change the format so that more participants can get the chance to play the game, he explained.
The popularity of this cricket tournament had forced the organizers to change the playing format and come up with eight players on a side. This year, we have 26 registered teams, most of the leading travel agents like Al Tayyar, Fursan, Bin Ghaith, Kanoo, Al Mousim, Al Dawleayah, Al Sarh, Dnata, Al Muayed, Port Folio, ACE Travel, Al-Theyab Travel, Arabian Travel, Sayar Travel & Amer Travel, he said.
Loecherbach said that Lufthansa, Europe's most successful airline and one of the largest worldwide was happy to organize the event. He said that the airline was currently operating seven direct flights a week to Frankfurt and three direct flights to Munich from Riyadh. Simultaneously, Lufthansa is also operating weekly flights to Frankfurt from Jeddah and Dammam, giving wider network connection to major cities of the world.
The bmi, the most popular airline from UK serving six daily flights from Riyadh, three from Jeddah and three from Dammam with an excellent connection to UK, Ireland and other European destinations, is also happy to be co-organizers of the cricket tournament. Loecherbach said that he was much delighted with the enthusiasm and sporting spirit shown by the travel agents and their teams. He wished them best of luck for the cricket tourney.