A team of visually challenged youths have made the state proud by making it to the semi-finals of the 12th Inter-State Shakuntala Mishra Memorial Blind Cricket Tournament being played at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Led by Shahid Raza, Bihar beat Himachal Pradesh to go through to the last four. The team had also trounced Maharashtra in earlier league matches. A total of 12 states took part in the tourney. Manvinder Singh Patwal, the general secretary of Blind Cricket Association of Bihar, said: “The XI comprised players from Gaya, Sitamarhi, Madhubani and Patna. They left for the tournament on February 10 and would return on February 18.”

He said the association aims to help visually challenged persons to play the game and promote blind cricket in the state. “We organise cricket tournaments for the visually impaired at the district, state, zonal, national and international levels to promote the sport,” he added.

The association’s patron, Farassat Hussain, said the body would try to provided employment to the cricketers under the sports quota in government, semi-government, autonomous bodies and corporate houses.

Hussain said such tournaments would help change perceived notions about blind people and bring out the latent potential in them. “Cricket is a powerful tool to create awareness in society about the capabilities of the visually impaired,” he added.