Third Coca-cola Cricket Pathway gets underway
Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka (CCBSL) along with Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation launched its third season of the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway for aspiring young cricket- ers around the island at the Bloomfield ground in Colombo.
Gracing the occasion were Aravinda de Silva, Abhishek Jugran, country manager Coca- Cola Far East, Saumindra Bhattacharya, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Sri Lanka and Naveed Nawaz Head Coach of the Sri Lanka Under 19 national team along with 73 young cricketers representing 125 schools from Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam.
The Third Season began in Colombo where two camps of the four that will be conducted, will be held. The other two camps have been slotted to be held in Jaffna and Galle
Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka (CCBSL) along with Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation launched its third season of the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway for aspiring young cricketers around the island at the Bloomfield ground in Colombo.
Gracing the occasion were Aravinda de Silva, Abhishek Jugran, country manager Coca-Cola Far East, Saumindra Bhattacharya, Country Manager, CocaCola Sri Lanka and Naveed Nawaz Head Coach of the Sri Lanka Under 19 national team along with 73 young cricketers representing 125 schools from Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam.
The Third Season began in Colombo where two camps of the four that will be conducted, will be held. The other two camps have been slotted to be held in Jaffna and Galle.
The Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway camp in Jaffna is due to be held on June 22, 23 and 24 while the camp in Galle will be held after the completion of the Sri Lanka Premier League which is due to be held in August.
Aravinda de Silva speaking on the occasion stressed, “Our aim and intention is to cover the camps around the island through the four camps that we have decided to conduct.
“It was scheduled to get underway in February but due to an illness for which I had to go to Australia it had to be postponed.” Aravinda further stated that this is a good opportunity that the young cricketers are getting and it’s left to the youngsters to grab the opportunity and make maximum use of it.
Aravinda bringing back memories of the past stated, “When I began playing international cricket my first tour was to Australia for a triangular tournament involving Australia, West Indies and Sri Lanka and my idol was the legendary Vivian Richards.
“Vivian was also involved in the tournament and I got a great chance of speaking to him personally as we were in the same flight to Australia. “It was great when I asked for a bit of advice from him the only thing he told me was to believe in yourself. Since then I have been following that up to now, in anything what I do.
“So what I have to say to these youngsters is the same thing. Again I have to mention that to make the maximum use of the opportunity that you are receiving and believe in yourself and have confident in whatever you do in life. I am confident that Season Three will be exciting as the last two camps.”
Saumindra Bhattacharya speaking on the occasion said the purpose of the CocaCola Cricket Pathway camps is two fold. “It helps to identify talent and promote young aspirants who don’t get the opportunity to showcase their hidden talent. The other is, it helps us to get young children out into the sports arena or grounds to lead an ac- tive lifestyle.
“Each one of you are very fortunate to have been selected to learn and fine tune your skills from top cricket coaches in the island who have been involved with cricket also as prominent cricketers.”
Abhishek Jugran stated that their effort is to encourage and promote cricketing talent amongst the Sri Lankan youth at grassroot level and unearth talent from the remotest areas around the island.“The camps provide an intense learning experience for all youngsters that helps them to hone their cricketing skills and further develop themselves to become Sri Lanka’s future cricketers.”
The Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway has been having continuous success since it’s inception in 2008 and has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation.
As a result of the rigorous training received from the veterans of the game there have been many young and talented cricketers who have gone on to represent the Sri Lanka Under 19 national team.
The Coca-Cola Season 1 saw ten players joining the Sri Lanka Under 19 pool and the Season 2 comprised 13 players. “This is the ultimate aim of these programme,” added a delighted Abhishek Jurgan.
Pictures by Indraratna Balasuriya.