"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.
