Coca-Cola India in Partnership with Procam International Rolls out the Coca-Cola U-16 Inter-School Cricket Tournament in Andhra Pradesh

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vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India, Republic of (Free-Press-Release.com) December 28, 2011 -- Vijaywada, December 28th , 2011: Andhra Pradesh is all set to witness some exciting cricketing action as Coca-Cola India, the country’s leading beverage company, today rolled out the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup Under-16 school cricket tournament in partnership with Procam International. Cricket has enjoyed a prominent position in the sporting history of Andhra Pradesh, which has produced a number of skilled cricketers, who have gone on to achieve great laurels at the National level.

The Andhra Pradesh leg of the Coca-Cola U-16 schools Inter-School Cricket Tournament will commence from the 5th of January. The initiative was announced by Mr. Mr. MSK Prasad Former International Cricketer, Nanduri Srinivas, General Manager, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd and Mr. P N Sankaran, Director Operations, Procam International at a press event organized at the Taj Gateway Hotel in the city today.

Speaking about the initiative, Nanduri Srinivas, General Manager, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd said, “Our purpose of getting into grassroots sports tournament is twofold. On one hand, it helps identify and promote young talent and gives them a well charted course to make it big in sports, on the other; it helps us get young children out into sports arenas and grounds. With changes in lifestyle, our children are not spending as much time playing as we would do in our childhood. Also sport promotes social cohesiveness and well-being and hence Coca-Cola has always taken a very active position in sports.” He further added, “This initiative is unique in the sense that, other than the cricket itself, this also has components of coaching, education in sports medicine and nutrition and exposure for youngsters to international cricket programs. We are confident that this tournament can emerge as a very powerful youth mobilization program. We wish all the participating young cricketers from Andhra Pradesh the very best for the tournament”.

Coca-Cola Cricket Cup Under-16 school cricket tournament is a major initiative by Coca-Cola India in partnership with Procam international to promote grass roots cricket in the country. The tournament will involve over 200 days of cricketing action spread across a period of 9 month in 65 districts in 8 states and 2 centers, under the aegis of the respective State Cricket Associations. The Coca-Cola Cup is the largest Inter-School Cricket championship in India and will involve participation from over 11,000 young crickets from 700 schools.

Adding further, P N Sankaran, Director Operations, Procam International, said “We are delighted to have Coca-Cola India as our partners for The Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup. Coca-Cola’s support for sporting events is well documented, this partnership will enable us to encourage young cricketing talent in the country and serve as an ideal platform to promote grassroots cricket, identify promising talent and groom the country’s next generation of International cricketers. With India’s vast population and geographical spread, it is not easy for talented players to find the right platform and emerge into the spotlight. The Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup aspires to be that platform for every deserving cricketer so that great talent never goes unrecognized”.

The Andhra Pradesh leg of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup will involve participation from leading under-16 cricket teams from 80 schools in the State, with matches being played in the 13 districts.
The tournament will commence from the 5th of January 2012 and will run for little less than a month. Matches during the knockout stage will be 40 overs each, whereas matches from there onwards will be of 50 overs each.

The teams and players performing will stand a chance to wins prizes at each stage post the quarter-final round. The winners & runners up of the Andhra Pradesh leg will be awarded prizes worth INR 50,000 and INR 35,000 respectively. While all the teams reaching the Zonal Finals stage will be presented with T-shirts and caps, the members of the teams that make it to the semi-finals will be presented with cricket kitbags. In-addition, there will also be man of the match awards for each match from the league stage onwards.

More About the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup

The Coca-Cola Intra-State Challenge will be played in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (all 13 districts), Punjab (six major districts and 14 minor districts), Baroda, Tamil Nadu (6 districts), Jharkhand (18 districts), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Kanpur) and Saurashtra. The format of the Coca-Cola Cricket Cup has been structured to begin with the Intra-State Challenge, which will be open to all schools in the respective cities and districts. The centers that have more than one city or district will play their own inter-district before one winner emerges from each center. The winners from the ten centers will feature in the Inter-State Challenge.

The program is open to all young cricketers born on or after 01.09.1995.The tournament will be played across 10 states in over 65 districts involving more than 11,000 young players from 700 schools. Winners of the Coca-Cola U-16 Cricket Cup will be awarded a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh, while the runners-up would get Rs. 70,000/-. 20 talented players selected from the Coca-Cola Inter-State Challenge will get a chance to attend a week long ‘Coaching Clinic’ under the guidance of prominent former cricketers of the country. Post the week long coaching, the final Coca-Cola XI team will be selected and given an opportunity to prove their mettle by participating in a competitive tournament against an invited International U-16 team from other cricket playing nations.
At the end of the 9-month program, three best players – ‘The Coca-Cola Cricket Stars’ will be groomed for a period of 3 years enabling them to realize their dream of donning International colors. Depending on their core strength, they will also get an opportunity to further hone their skills by attending training camps under the guidance of prominent former cricketers.

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