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Guwahati, Feb. 1: The Assam Cricket Association is organising an inter-state inter-university cricket tournament in memory of its former president Suren Das.
ACA secretary Bikash Baruah disclosed this to The Telegraph today, adding that the introductory edition would be held tentatively by the end of March. Baruah said: “We propose to involve all the universities of the northeastern region. We are going to invite Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, Assam University (Silchar), Assam Agricultural University (Jorhat), Tezpur University, North Eastern Hill University (Shillong), Manipur University (Imphal), North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Itanagar) and others.”
“It will be a limited-over affair, which will be held here. The idea is to provide a platform to the talented players at that level so that we can get some of them for state duty in the under-25 and senior level,” the ACA secretary added.
He, however, expressed concern over the state of affairs at its recognised units of Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University. “The two universities have the infrastructure and funds and, I am sure, there is no dearth of talent in the colleges under their jurisdiction. The universities, however, do not take necessary steps to hold the inter-college tournaments properly and regularly and nurture the talents by holding coaching camps. We are always ready to help them,” Baruah said.
“We have, however, been observing something encouraging in the way Nehu and Manipur University are trying to develop the sport,” he added. Meghalaya and Manipur are associate state units of the BCCI and are not eligible for senior level tournament under the Board.
The ACA, which has proposed to hold an inter-coaching centre/academy under-14 tournament here, has directed its affiliated its district units to hold the district level tournaments in the same age group to nominate their respective teams.
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