24th National Blind Cricket tournament to conclude in Mumbai

New Delhi [India], Oct 27 (ANI): Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) affiliated to Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and World Blind Cricket (WBC) has announced the Mumbai leg of the 24th National Cricket Tournament.

The zonal tournaments that started earlier this month will end next week in Mumbai, as two groups will have four teams each.

Two teams from each group will be chosen on point basis and then they will enter quarterfinals/ semi-finals and to the Finals.

The winners from this tournament will take away the trophy along with cash award of Rs.50000 and runners will take away the Trophy along with cash award of Rs.30000.

The 24th National Tournament is a platform in selecting the Indian team for the forth-coming 5th ODI World Cup in Dubai and Pakistan, which is to be held from January 7 to January 21, 2018. The tournament will be organized by Pakistan Blind Cricket Council in association with World Blind Cricket Ltd (WBC).

Here are some highlights of the zonal matches:

South Zone - The tournament for South Zone was played in Calicut on October 12 to October 15 wherein six teams participated. The teams are Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The teams from Andhra Pradesh led by Ajay Kumar Reddy and from Karnataka led by Prakash Jayaramaiah qualified from South Zone to play in National Tournament.

West Zone - The tournament for West Zone was played in Ahmadabadon October 16 and October 17 wherein five teams participated. The teams are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The teams from Gujarat led by Ganesh Muhundkar and from Maharashtra led by Dilip Munde qualified from West Zone to play in National Tournament.

East Zone - The tournament for East Zone was played in Calcutta on October 20 to October 22 wherein four teams participated. The teams are Tripura, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odessa. The teams from West Bengal led by Tanumoy Bhowmik and from Odessa led by Jafar Iqbal qualified from East Zone to play in National Tournament.

North Zone - The tournament for North Zone was played in Dehradun from October 23 to October 25 wherein seven teams participated. The teams are UP, Delhi, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana. The Team from Himachal Pradesh missed this tournament due to heavy rains. The Team from Haryana led by Deeepak Malik and Team from UP led by Sanjeev qualified from North Zone.

Last Year, 23rd National Tournament was held at Balsa and Cali in Gujarat. This was organised by CABI. Andhra Pradesh won the national championship and Gujarat won the runners up the trophy. This tournament helped CABI to pick up 17 good players who played for the T20 Cup in February this year.

The categories in which players belong are of B1 (completely blind), B2 (can see up to 3 metres) and B3 (can see up to 6 metres). (ANI)