The event is being organized by Riyadh Cricket Association as part of the RCA efforts to promote cricket in the Kingdom and sponsored by Arab News, the Middle East’s leading English language daily published by Saudi Research and Publishing Company (SRPC).
The T-20 format competition will be played every Thursday afternoon. The schools entered in the Arab News Cup are: Middle East International School, International Indian Public School, International Indian School, Delhi Public School, Bangladesh International School and Pakistan International School-Nasiriya. There are 5 schools playing in U-15 and 4 schools in U-19. The organizers and heads of participating schools on Tuesday met in Khayam with and discussed important matters related to the tournament including the rules of RCA and fixtures.
The Inter-School committee is headed by RCA General Secretary Aasif Sheikh. Tournament coordinator is Amjad Iqbal with Raiz Ahmed and Rehan Khan as joint secretary.
Sheikh said: “I am pleased that schools are willing to play cricket and with the support of Arab News we will be able to support and promote the game in the near future at a very large scale and for that, he would like to thank Editor in chief Khaled Almeena for showing his great passion and unique interest in this game”.
Arab news senior reporter Ghazanfar Ali Khan was present at the meeting and he said: “Arab news will support RCA all the time.” Also present were RCA Senior VP Jawaid Munawar, Joint Secretary Raiz Ahmed, school coordinator Amjad Iqbal, Tariq Butt, Raza Ur Rahman and Rehan Khan.
Players will be provided new shirts for the entire run of the tournament courtesy of RCA, which will also provide score books and wickets in addition to kits.
Also, prizes are to be scaled down to the fifth positions instead of the usual first three.
The tournament is aimed at providing the youth one the healthy option of recreation through wholesome sports activity to help them achieve a sound mind and a sound body and two opportunities to excel and be able to play at a higher level.
“I can surely say prospect for cricket is very bright in this region and I am really positively hopeful that with the efforts that my team members are exerting for the promotion of this game, I guarantee you the fact that one day KSA-RCA will be representing and be the largest league in the Middle East region”, RCA president Qadeer Mirza said.
